it was not until the year 1900 , when karl landsteiner at the university of vienna , discovered why some blood transfusions were successful while others could be deadly .
landsteiner discovered the abo blood group system by mixing the red cells and serum of each of his staff .
he demonstrated that the serum of some people agglutinated the red cells of other . from these early experiments
, he identified three types , called a , b and c ( c was later to be re - named o for the german 
the fourth less frequent blood group ab , was discovered a year later . in 1930 , landsteiner received the nobel prize in physiology and medicine for his work ( 1 ) .
the gene that determines human abo blood type is located on chromosome 9 ( 9q34.1 ) and is called abo glycosyltransferase .
the abo locus has three main allelic forms : a , b , and o , as mentioned above and each of them is responsible for the production of its glycoprotein .
it is therefore the combination of alleles that are inherited from parents that determines which glycoproteins ( antigens ) are found on persons blood cells and thereby their abo blood type ( 1 ) .
as investigations have demonstrated on monkeys ( table 1 ) , human blood groups are very old genetic indicators which have evolved during several million years ( 2 ) .
based on the primary races hypothesis , it was thought that in the three major races of man , blood groups a in europe , b in asian , and finally o in south america have been emerged and gradually due to the migration and mixing of the races , became the present situation .
but we know that in each continent , the isolated populations are seen that have completely different blood groups . for example , there is relatively high prevalence of blood group o in siberian inhabitants ; also this blood group is very common in some areas of switzerland ( 3 ) . according to another hypothesis , the emergence of all blood groups a and b and their subgroups , are resulted from successive mutations , from a basic and common blood group , which is the o group , and have been branched over millions of years ( fig .
the old races have o blood group , such as red indians of south america , and eskimos that among them the frequency of o blood group is between 75100% . while in most of recent ethnic groups a and b blood groups are dominant . in another hypothesis ,
the first blood group had been ab blood group , which gradually and over the time due to genetic mutations was resulted in a and b and finally o blood groups ( fig .
2 ) . base on this theory , perhaps a few million years ago all people have had type o blood only , which is more resistant against many infectious diseases .
geographic distribution and racial blood groups a and b and o in the world ( according to the mourant design 1958 ) are shown in figures 3 to 5(4 ) .
the geographical spread not only is a result of the above assumptions , but the current process of natural selection against environmental factors such as diseases , climate , humidity , altitude and etc
after discovery of the first human blood groups ( abo ) by karl landsteiner in 1901 ( 5 ) , gradually from 1927 , other blood groups were also discovered and reported which its collection is given in table 2 .
it is important to mention that landsteiner together with his american colleague alexander wiener discovered the rh blood group and reported it in 1940 , 1941 .
karl landsteiner was born on 14 june 1868 , in vienna , austria ; he died on 26 june 1943 ad , at 75 years old , in the united states .
landsteiner in his 17 scientific paper in 1901 reported blood group abo which was displayed at the beginning with the letters abc . in 1930
in addition to the known blood groups ( table 2 ) , nearly twenty public antigens and also sixty - specific antigen or family antigen ( private antigens ) have been reported ( 3 ) .
moreover , the main blood groups abo , gradually discovered and reported ( 3 ) which the most notably of them are as follows : 
 a subgroups , including a1 , a2 , a3 , and also rare types a4 , a5 , a6 , z , x , end , boutu , g , i.b subgroups , including b1 , b2 , b3 , and rare types w , x , v , m.subgroups , including o1 , o2 , o3 , and other types such as yy , hh , xx , and bombay . a subgroups , including a1 , a2 , a3 , and also rare types a4 , a5 , a6 , z , x , end , boutu , g , i. b subgroups , including b1 , b2 , b3 , and rare types w , x , v , m. subgroups , including o1 , o2 , o3 , and other types such as yy , hh , xx , and bombay .
in a compilation by mourant in 1958 ( 4 ) , referring to a limited and small sampling from iran ( tehran ) by a.ajir was seen , but there was no systematic and comprehensive research about types and frequencies of blood groups , serum proteins , and red blood cell enzymes , found in iran .
the first report about the frequency of lutheran blood group in iran was published in 1979 ( 23 ) . after a long study and targeted collection , detailed reports of the frequency of abo blood groups in different iranian ethnic groups
was released ( 24 ) . in another study , the frequency of blood groups , serum proteins and red cells enzymes in various iranian populations
furthermore , a collection of valuable and extensive cooperation with iran blood transfusion organization , different types of blood groups in various population of iran , was reported .
this report included the study of abo and rh blood groups phenotype and genotype frequencies among 291857 individuals and their geographical spread in different provinces of iran ( 26 ) . in this report ,
in addition to the abo blood groups and rh , genotype and phenotype frequencies of rare blood groups , including kell ( n=5522 ) , daffy ( n=3764 ) , kidd ( n=3650 ) , lutheran ( n=3199 ) , kp ( n=1489 ) , xg ( n=3227 ) , were also presented ( 26 ) .
since over 2030 years have passed from that sampling in different provinces of iran , population displacement , and various environmental factors , diseases , immigration , exogamous marriages within different ethnic groups , no doubt that provincial prevalence of blood groups distribution , at this time has changed , too .
however , over time , case reports and local frequencies of blood groups in different regions of iran , were prepared and published , including abo and rh blood groups report in population of larestan and lamerd , fars ( 27 ) .
ethical issues ( including plagiarism , informed consent , misconduct , data fabrication and/or falsification , double publication and/or submission , redundancy , etc ) have been completely observed by the authors .
 the evolution of human blood groups , without doubt , has a history as old as man himself . 
 there are at least three hypotheses about the emergence and mutation of human blood groups . 
 global distribution pattern of blood groups depends on various environmental factors , such as disease , climate , altitude , humidity etc . in this survey , 
 the collection of main blood groups abo and rh , along with some minor groups , are presented . 
 several investigations of blood groups from iran , particularly a large sampling on 291857 individuals from iran , including the main blood groups abo and rh , as well as minor blood groups such as duffy , lutheran , kell , kp , kidd , and xg , have been reviewed . 
Introduction
Genesis and Evolution
Blood groups in Iran
Ethical considerations