Abstract: The 10 phenotypes of phosphoglucomutase-1 (PGMa) were determined from hair roots in the population sample of Han and six Chinese minorities, i.e., Miao, Tujia, Sala, Tu, Daur and Hoche by isoelectric foeusing technics. The frequencies observed for the four alleles in Han population are: PGM；+ = 0.6415, PGM；- = 0.1463, PGM；十=0.1273, PGMJ- = 0.0849. And that of the minorities varies: the gene frequencies of 14- range from 0.7288 in Tujia (Hunan prov.) to 0.5250 in Tu (Qinghai prov.) ； 1— ranges from 0.2143 in Miao (Hunan prov.) to 0.0254 in Tujia; 2+ ranges from 0.2000 in Tu to 0.0556 in Miao; and 2— ranges from 0.1450 in Tu to 0.0798 in Daur (Heilongjiang prov.). The rare variants (8-al) were 'found to be as high as 12.5% in Miao, 4.84%, 3.13% and 0.93% in Tujia. Sala and Han respectively, but none was detected from the northeast minorities Daur and Hoche as well as Tu from the northwest. These results were also compared with that of the other races in the world.

Key words: Hair roots; Phosphoglucomutase; Isoelectric focusing; Genetic; Polymorphism; Gene frequencies; Different nationalities