Spectrum of Beta-Thalassemia Mutations in Potential Carriers with Microcytic Hypochromic Anemia from Mazandaran and Golestan, Northern Provinces of Iran.

The 53 different mutations identified in this study were the most ever reported mutations in the country. Due to diversity of different ethnic groups, there are many varieties of mutation in beta globin gene in Iran. It could be assumed that both founder effect and natural selection caused by migration from neighboring areas have complemented each other to produce the high frequency of unique alleles within each region.