Objective  To explore nutrient deficiency-related gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SPN) loci and their regional distribution among Chinese minority students.

  Methods  We selected 21 SNP loci for the analysis based on studies published previously. We collected coagulated blood cell samples among 384 minority students from poverty-stricken rural areas in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) in 2016 and extracted DNA of the blood cells with immunomagnetic bead method. We performed genotyping with Sequenom Mass Array system and conducted data analyses with SPSS 18.0.

  Results  Significant differences in geographical distribution of SNP were observed in 10 loci of nutrient deficiency-related genes. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype analysis resulted in the r² value of 0.81 for the LD between rs3811658 and rs1830084 loci on chromosome 3 among Uygur students in Xingjian but the r² values were less than 0.8 for students in the other two regions. The r² between rs2111833 and rs1421312 on chromosome 22 was 0.30 for the Zhuang, 0.24 for the Mongolian, and 0.44 for the Uygur students, indicating a strong LD correlation between the two loci among Zhuang and Uygur students and a weaker LD correlation of the two loci among Mongolian students.

  Conclusion  The study results demonstrate regional differences in SNP of iron nutrition-related genes among Uygur, Zhuang, and Mongolian students.