Phenotypes of inter-alpha-trypsin-inhibitor (ITI) have been determined by isoelectric foCUSing on polyacryl-amide gels followed by immunofixation. The phenotype fre-quencies of ITI in the Han population in Chengdu. P. R. China have been investigated using this method. In addition, family studies have been conducted in 21 families. The re-suits show that ITI iS polymorphic in the Han population in Chengdu. China. The allele frequencies are as follows: ITI*1=0.5763. ITl*2=0.4107. ITl*3=0.0130. ITI is thus a new and promising genetic marker that can be used in the field of forensic haematogenetics.

The amplifiable VNTR polymorphic system COL2A1 has been investigated in Chinese and German population samples. In order to accurately identify COL2A1 alleles. a number of hu-man allele ladders were prepared. A total of 14 different alleles in 23 genotypes was observed in the Chinese population. while in the German population there were 11 alleles in 24 geno-types. Four new alleles were observed. AIl of them werc found in the Chinese and one was also observed in the German pop-ulation. There was no statisticaI difference in the allele distri-bution between two Gcrman populations from Miinster and Koln, while the allele frequency distribution in the Chinese population differed significantly from the German.