Genetic Variability of PXR in Saudi Arabians

Polymorphisms in the PXR gene play important roles in influencing the efficacy and toxicity of a large number of endogenous and exogenous substrates. Because of ethnic specificity, several studies have been directed toward the determination of PXR polymorphisms in various populations. In the current study, we determined the genotype and allele frequencies of 19 coding and regulatory polymorphisms in the PXR gene in Saudi Arabians by direct sequencing. Our results show that the frequencies of the regulatory PXR SNPs in Saudi Arabians differ from those in other ethnic groups, and the results endorse the commonly seen ethnic pattern of a paucity of the PXR coding SNPs.