We already have heard and experienced situations where rare blood groups like Bombay blood group have been a mystery to people in blood banking. Now, there are 2 more to add to this list: Langereis blood type and Junior blood type. Both positive and negative.
The molecular basis of these two blood types had remained a mystery until recently when scientists at University of Vermont where able to decode them and identified the two molecules as specialized transport proteins named ABCB6 and ABCG2. The last new blood group proteins to be discovered were nearly a decade ago.
While blood transfusion problems due to Langereis and Junior blood types are rare worldwide, several ethnic populations may have these groups - for example it is believed that more than 50.000 Japanese people have the Junior negative group.
Reference: AABB Newsletter