Deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) polymorphism has been used as a valuable marker in genetic and clinical investigations. Six codorminant alleles are known for DNase I, DNASE1*1, *2, *3, *4, and the recently discovered alleles *5 and *6. To detect these two new, alleles, we added a new DNase I genotyping method based on both at? allele-specific amplification and mismatched polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These methods were used to examine the distribution of DNase 1 genotypes in unrelated individuals from bloodstains of Ovambo and Turkish populations. The DNASE1*1 allele was found to be most dominant in the Ovambos. In contrast, Turks showed the highest allele frequency for DNASE1*2. This study is the first to demonstrate that there is a certain genetic heterogeneity in the worldwide distribution of DNase I polypmorphism using the genotyping method of human DNase I polymorphism with PCR.