**8. Conclusion**

Thalassemia arises from well over 400 mutations that, in the cumulative, affect every step required for successful production of the large amounts of Hb needed for normal red cell homeostasis. The mutations accounting for most of the thalassemia patients around the world are those affecting translation termination and mRNA splicing. Gene deletions and rearrangements, and defects affecting transcription, mRNA stability, or Hb assembly are uncommon or occur rarely.
