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The plasma ceruloplasmin of 22,367 children of A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was examined for variants by electrophoresis. The sample was composed of 14,964 unrelated children and 7,403 siblings of the unrelated persons. A total of seven types of electrophoretic variants were detected; four migrating anodally and three cathodally to the normal B band. We have reported two of these variants, CP ANG1 and CP CNG1, previously but the other five, CP ANG2, CP AHR1, CP AHR2, CP CHR1, and CP CHR2, are newly identified. The allelic frequency ofCP*CNG1 was 0.00916, so that the variant is considered to be a polymorphic allele. Homozygosity for theCP*CNG1 allele was detected in five individuals. This is the first report of a homozygous phenotype for a ceruloplasmin variant in a Japanese population. Family study of the new five variants all demonstrated patterns of codominant inheritance.

A total of 16,835 children, of whom 11,737 are unrelated, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki were examined for erythrocyte cytoplasmic glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT1) by starch gel electrophoresis. A variant allele namedGOT1 * 2HR1 which seems to be identical withGOT1 *2 was encountered in polymorphic frequency. Five kinds of rare variants, 3NG1, 4NG1, 5NG1, 6HR1 and 7NG1 were encountered in a total of 109 children. Except for 7NG1 for which complete family study was unable, family studies confirmed the genetic nature of these rare variants, since for all instances in which both parents could be examined, one of the parents exhibited the same variant as that of their child. Thermostability profiles of these six variants were normal. The enzyme activities of five were decreased, while the value of one was normal compared to that of GOT1 1.

A total of 17,126 individuals, of whom 11,833 are unrelated, living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were examined for erythrocyte phosphoglucomutase-2 (PGM2) by starch gel electrophoresis using TEMM buffer, pH 7.4. Four kinds of hereditary rare variants were encountered, three detected in single families and the one remaining in 9 unrelated families. In addition, a fresh mutant whose main band migrated slightly cathodal to thed-band was detected in a male child in Nagasaki, whose parents were proximally exposed to the atomic bomb in that city. The results described here confirm our previous data that PGM2 variation is quite low among the Japanese.