Diego Blood Group system • Used as a tool in anthropologic studies of Mongolian ancestry • Located in the anion exchange protein (AE-1), also known as the erythrocyte band 3, which is an integral transport protein involved in the anion exchange of bicarbonate for chloride in RBC membrane. • Mutation in AE-1 results to hereditary spherocytosis, congenital acanthocytosis and Southeast Asian Ovalocytosis.