Abstract: By using starch gel electrophoresis and specific staining method, the polymorphism of adeny late kinase-1(AK 1) was investigated in nine Han subpopulations and four minorities. In all of the thirteen subpopulations studied , the frequency of AK1 * 2 is less than 0.01 and far lower than that of AK1 * 1. The values of AK1 * 2 were:060096 for Lanzhou Han, 060023 for Zhengzhou Han, 0.0024 for Xi'an Han, 0.0024 for Qiang ethnic group, and it iszero in Chengdu Han, Harbin Han, Guiyang Han and Hakka in Guangdong Province, aswell as in Hani ,Yao, Bouyei ethnic groups. One case of phenotype AK1 * 2--2 was ob-served in Lanzhou Han subpopulation and this is the first case observde among Chinese.

Key words: Adenylate kinase; Genetic polymorphism; Han ethnic group; Minorities