Objective: to determine the genotypes of arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT2) among 127 unrelated apparently healthy Omanis.
Method: Identify the most common known polymorphisms of NAT*2 gene namely, G(191)A, C(282)T, C(341)T, C(481)T, G(590)A, A(803)G and G(857)A using PCR-RFLP analysis.
Results: Eleven allele variants (3 alternative) and 30 different genotypes were determined. The commonest alleles were found to be NAT*5B, NAT2*6A and NAT*4 with corresponding frequencies of 0.362, 0.248 and 0.189 respectively. The overall frequency of rapid acetylator alleles was 0.25.
Conclusion: A new allele variant containing G(590)A, C(282)T and T(341)C polymorphisms was found in one subject (was named NAT2*5J). The commonest genotypes were found to be 5B/5B, 5B/6A, 4/5B, 4/6A with frequencies 0.165, 0.157, 0.118, 0.110 and 0.079 respectively.
Keywords: N-acetyltransferase (NAT2); Omani; genotyping.