partment of Medical Genetics, Southern Medical Univer- sity, Guangzhou, Guangdong, Peoples Republic of China;

pub.guangzhou.gd.cn] Deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is the most common inherited metabolic enzyme disorder in the world, with a very high incidence throughout the tropics and subtropics as a result of malarial selection (1–3). More than 140 mutations or combinations of muta-tions of the X-linked gene for G6PD have been character-ized at the DNA level from different ethnic populations worldwide (4, 5). In areas of Southeast Asia, including southern China, at least 25 deficiency-causing point mu-tations have been identified in the human G6PD gene. Te