Diego antigen system

The Diego antigen (or blood group) system is composed of 21 blood factors or antigens carried on the Band 3 glycoprotein, also known as Anion Exchanger 1 (AE1). The antigens are inherited through various alleles of the gene SLC4A1 (Solute carrier family 4), located on human chromosome 17. The AE1 glycoprotein is expressed only in red blood cells and, in a shortened form, in some cells in the kidney. The Diego antigen is fairly common in Indigenous peoples of the Americas (in both North and South America) and East Asians, but very rare or absent in most other populations, supporting the theory that the two groups share common ancestry.