Anthropometric and genetic distance between Gonds of Central India

A morphological and genetic study was undertaken on five Gondi-speaking populations of Central India (Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra States). There has been no systematic biological study on this large Dravidian-speaking tribal group, 4 million in number, amounting to 13% of the total tribal population of India. Data was collected on 16 anthropometric measurements and seven genetic markers (blood groups, hemoglobin, G6PD and plasma protein polymorphisms) on the Raj Gonds, Kolams, Manne, Koyas and Plains Maria Gonds. Various genetic distance measures such as Mahalanobis's D2 and Nei's and Sanghvi's measures and cluster analysis techniques were used to determine the relationship between these groups based on anthropometrics and genetic variables. The statistical analysis revealed the Gonds to be a heterogenous group in both morphology and genetic characteristics. The morphological and genetic distances between these five groups when projected graphically revealed that the spatial distribution of these Gonds generally corresponds to their present geographical distribution. However, the actual relationships among each of the Gond populations show differences when based on these two biological variables, the possible reasons for this being discussed in the paper. The emphasis of this study is on the importance of geographical proximity in producing morphological and genetic similarity between populations, brought about by a short distance as well as similar geographical factors (such as soil, terrain, flora, etc.) drawing these populations together under a common ecocultural umbrella.     

Dermatoglyphic assessment of the genetic relationships of native American populations

Genetic distance techniques and cluster analysis were used to determine which dermatoglyphic parameters were most useful in assessing genetic relationships between native American populations. The dermatoglyphic parameters used for this analysis were those most completely reported in the papers examined in a literature survey we had carried out previously, and include digital patterns, modal types of the C-line and D-line terminations, and palmar patterns in the hypothenar, thenar/I, and interdigital areas. The populations examined were separated by sex and divided into seven major geographical groups: Eskimo; North American Indian; Maya and non-Maya (Central America); Amazonian; Quechua, and Aymara (South America). Mean frequencies of dermatoglyphic traits were computed for each group and pairwise “genetic” distances calculated using Cavalli-Sforza and Edward's D-test. Dendrograms were then generated from these D-values using Q-mode cluster analysis. Using the hypothenar, thenar/I and III and IV interdigital areas, the results of this analysis demonstrated a good fit to an expected phylogenetic tree. When digital patterns, patterns in the II interdigital area, and the modal types of the C-line were included in the analysis, the same phylogenetic relationships were observed. However, inclusion of the modal types of the D-line with the other parameters tended to introduce some distortion and a greater separation between sexes within the same populations.     

A population genetic study in the Ochamchir region, Abkhazia, SSR

The reported longevity of residents of the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Caucasus has focused considerable attention on this population. However, little is known of the genetic composition of this population. With this in mind, several village populations of the Ochamchir Region, Abkhazia, SSR, were typed for 37 discrete genetic blood groups, erythrocyte and plasma protein loci. Gene and haplotype frequencies calculated for the polymorphic markers were determined and the results used in an analysis of intervillage heterogeneity and genetic distance analysis comparing the Abkhazians to European and Asian reference populations. The Abkhazians are approximately equal distance from European and West Asian populations in a genetic sense, and this is consistent with their geographical location. In addition to the usual genetic polymorphisms, rare electrophoretic variants were encountered at the lactate dehydrogenase A and phosphohexose isomerase loci. These results suggest that the population of the Ochamchir Region is relatively homogeneous and not distinctly different from its geographical neighbors.     

The St. Lawrence Island Eskimos: genetic variation and genetic distance

The Eskimos of St. Lawrence Island have been typed for genetic variation at 44 discrete genetic loci. Three private polymorphisms, at the 2,3-diphosphoglycerate mutase, peptidase B, and purine nucleoside phosphorylase loci, have been observed, which may be useful in future studies of genetic relationships between Eskimos and other circumpolar populations. Genetic distance analysis reveals a close relationship between the St. Lawrence Island Eskimos and other Eskimo populations and that the Eskimo populations form a distinct cluster from Amerindian populations. The St. Lawrence Island Eskimos appear to be more similar to Asiatic Eskimos than to other groups. Caucasian admixture in this population is estimated to be between 2 and 7%.     

Genetic-geographic dispersion among North Indian populations and affinities of the Jats

Variation in 13 loci across North India has been mapped using principal components and generalized distance analysis. Significant clinal variation is documented for most systems, and genetic difference bears a relation to geographic distance especially along a north-west-to-southeast inclination. Both caste and geography exert influence over the historically contentious affinities of the Jats. Author order is alphabetical     

Genetic distances among the Ho tribe and other groups of Central Indians

The Ho, a settled tribal group of Chota Nagpur, India, were tested for five genetic characters. Genetic distance among eleven tribal groups of Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh are calculated according to Edwards ('71). Affinities of these tribes are discussed taking into consideration the languages spoken by them. These breeding groups may have drifted apart along the paths of their dialect differentiations. Cultural and geographical factors further enhanced their isolation.     

Pattern of genetic differentiation in the Maculinea alcon species group (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) in Central Europe

The taxonomic status of Alcon Blues living in Central and Western Europe (conventionally: Maculinea alcon and Maculinea rebeli ) is quite confused. Some authors distinguish them as separate species of the M. alcon species group, while others consider them as subspecies or simply ecological forms. Our aim was to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among several populations of these taxa with reference to their taxonomic position. Imagoes were collected from 27 localities in Central Europe between 1999 and 2003. Samples originated from four regions: northern Hungary, central Hungary, Romania: Transylvania and Slovenia. Enzyme polymorphism was analysed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In all samples 16 enzyme loci were studied. In the analysis of the data, F -statistics was computed and the total genetic variation was partitioned into within and between population components. Nei's genetic distances were calculated and UPGMA dendrogram was constructed on the basis of the distance matrix. Hierarchical F -statistics and amova was computed to study the pattern of genetic differentiation among the samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) was also carried out using the allele frequencies of the samples. The results of all analyses indicated a high level of differentiation among the samples. The differences among the samples collected in different years from the same population accounted for a considerable amount of the between sample variation. The distribution of the between sample variation did not exhibit a species pattern. The results of amova and PCA indicated that the geographic pattern was slightly more expressed in the between sample variation compared with the species pattern of it. These results seem to contradict with the conventional taxonomical subdivision.     

Association of Hck genetic polymorphisms with gene expression and COPD

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) are major effector cells in the chronic airway inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). PMN degranulation is associated with degradation of extracellular matrix and tissue damage. Hck is an essential molecule in the signaling pathway regulating PMN degranulation. We hypothesized that polymorphisms affect the expression level of Hck, which, in turn, modulates PMN mediator release and tissue damage and influences the development of COPD. Here we systematically investigated genetic tag polymorphisms of the Hck gene, Hck mRNA and protein expression pattern in PMNs, and PMN mediator release (myeloperoxidase) in 60 healthy white subjects, and assessed their association with the use of several genetic models. The association of genetic polymorphisms with COPD-related phenotypes was determined in the lung healthy study cohort (LHS). We identified a novel 15 bp insertion/deletion polymorphism (8,656 L/S) in intron 1 of the Hck gene, which was associated with differential expression of Hck protein and PMN myeloperoxidase release. In the LHS cohort, there was significant interaction between the 8,656 L/S polymorphism and smoking on baseline lung function and 8,656 L/S was associated with bronchodilator response. These data suggest that the insertion/deletion polymorphism could be a functional polymorphism of the Hck gene, may contribute to COPD pathogenesis and modify COPD-related phenotypes.     

Some blood genetic markers of the Nuba and Hawazma tribes of western Sudan

Two hundred eighty subjects comprising 112 Nuba and 168 Hawazma of the Sudan were tested for the distribution of hemoglobins, eight red cell enzymes, and four serum proteins. The Nuba, the indigenous negroid tribe, had no HbS, HbO-Arab, or GdB(Khartoum) compared to the Hawazma tribe of Negro-Arab descent. The gene frequencies of the above polymorphic systems in the latter were as follows: HbS, 0.13; HbO-Arab, 0.01; GdB(Khartoum), 0.03. The frequency of GdA was higher in the Hawazma than in the Nuba. A high frequency of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and HpO was present in both the tribes. Essentially similar gene frequencies of Hp1, TfD, PGDC, pC, and PGM1 were observed in both Nuba and Hawazma. The average heterozygosity at five polymorphic loci was the same (0.23) in both the tribes. The above results agree with the social practice whereby people of mixed Hawazma and Nuba descent are considered members of the Hawazma tribe and confirm that racial admixture between the two groups can be seen as a process of gene flow from the Nuba to the Hawazma, even though the Nuba are the indigenous group, while the Hawazma are the new settlers.     

Pattern of genetic differentiation in two Isophya species (Orthoptera: Tettigonoidea) in north-east Hungary

Allozyme polymorphism was studied in two populations of Isophya kraussi and Isophya stysi. Both species are flightless and have low dispersal ability. As a consequence, we expected high level of genetic differentiation among their local populations. Samples were collected in three regions of Hungary. Enzyme polymorphism was investigated at 10 loci (Aldox, Est, Got, Gpdh, Hk, Idh, Mdh, Me, Pgi and Pgm) in both species. High levels of polymorphism were detected in all samples. Gpdh proved to be diagnostic as there were no common alleles in the two species. At four further loci (Got, Hk, Mdh and Me), the two species had one common allele together with one or more differentiating alleles. We detected high F _IT values implying a high level of genetic variation. The positive F _IS values suggested a tendency of heterozygote deficiency in both species. The highly significant overall F _ST values indicated clear genetic differentiation among the local populations. Thus our results confirmed the taxonomic status of these two species. The dendrogram constructed on the basis of Nei's genetic distances and the results of the PCA analyses fully confirmed those obtained by F-statistics.     

Mutant allele frequencies and genetic distance relationships in domestic cat populations of lower Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean

Summary Gene frequency surveys conducted in Alexandria and Cairo reveal genetic profiles which are extensions of those that characterize the cat populations of European cities. For nine selected comparisons with Alexandria, regression analysis indicates that a linear function best describes the relationship between Nei's and Cavalli-Sforza's genetic distance indices and geographic distance.     

Increased genetic diversity in mitochondrial genes is correlated with the evolution of parasitism in the Hymenoptera

A higher AT content and rate of mtDNA sequence divergence was found in parasitic wasps (Apocrita) compared with nonparasitic wasps (Symphyta). The compositional bias was reflected in extreme codon bias for a cytochrome oxidase I protein coding gene fragment as well as in the types of amino acid substitutions that have occurred during the evolution of this gene fragment. In some instances, compositional bias influenced the definition of a conservative amino acid change. The increased rate of mtDNA sequence evolution probably arose during the early Jurassic, coincident with the first appearance of parasitic wasps in the fossil record. Our results suggest a causal link between the rate of sequence divergence and the parasitic lifestyle.Abbreviations AT adenosine-thymine - CO-1 cytochrome oxidase 1 - mtDNA mitochondrial DNA - Myr million years Correspondence to: M. Dowton     

Failure of linguistic relationships to predict genetic distances between the Waiãpi and other tribes of lower Amazonia

Data on blood group, serum protein, erythrocyte enzyme, and histocompatibility antigen (HLA) traits are presented for the Waiãpi, a Tupispeaking tribe of the Brazilian and French Guianas. Intra- and intertribal comparisons have been made between these data, and previously published data from French Guiana, from another Tupi tribe and from other tribes of neighboring areas, and from the continent as a whole. For this purpose, we have modified the usual measure of genetic distance to obtain a value which is independent of the number of loci being considered. The intertribal genetic distances do not correlate with linguistic affinity. Social differences, which may have affected the rate of drift from the continental mean, correlate better with genetic distances.     

The genetic structure of a tribal population, the Yanomama indians. VII. Anthropometric differences among Yanomama villages

Anthropometric data on 12 variables in 19 villages of the Yanomama Indians demonstrate significant heterogeneity in physique among villages of this tribe. Mahalanobis' distances (D²) calculated from the data lead to the tentative conclusion of a general correspondence between anthropometric and geographic distances separating villages. The mean stature of the Yanomama is smaller than that of most other South American tribes which have been measured, and the Yanomama are genetically distinct from the other small Indians as shown by genetic distances based on allele frequencies for a variety of genetic markers. Since some subjects were measured more than once by the same and by different observers, it was possible to calculate approximate estimates of variance within and between observers. Univariate analysis indicates that face height and nose height are especially susceptible to systematic differences in technique between observers. The variances obtained in this field study compare favorably with those of some classical laboratory studies described in the literature. It was found that measurement error nevertheless probably makes a substantial contribution to anthropometric distance between villages. The median error variance as a fraction of that of Herskovits ('30) is 0.62 for the seven measurements in common with this study. The median value of the error variance for the 12 variables in this study is between 16% and 17% of the total variance.     

Relationship between heterozygosity and genetic distance in the three major races of man

In pairwise comparisons of gene frequency data from the three major races of man, the single locus measures of the heterozygosity within and the genetic distance between races are shown to be strongly correlated across the loci coding for red cell proteins and enzymes. The intercept of the regression line of genetic distance on heterozygosity in protein enzyme loci is statistically insignificant. These findings suggest that the genetic variability at the enzyme and protein loci in man is probably maintained by a balance of mutation and random genetic drift. At the blood group loci, however, the observed relationship between genetic distance and heterozygosity does not follow the expectation of the neutral mutation hypothesis. These observations are discussed in terms of the changes in probability of identical monomorphism in two populations during the process of gene differentiation.     

HLA-DRB1 frequencies of non-Austronesian-speaking Gidra in south New Guinea and their genetic affinities with Oceanian populations

DNA typing of HLA-DRB1 genes was conducted for 192 samples from the Gidra who speak one of the non-Austronesian languages and inhabit the southern lowlands of New Guinea. Comparison of the allele frequencies with those of eight other Oceanian populations reveals that the Gidra are genetically closest to the non-Austronesian-speaking Goroka and, next, to the Aboriginal Australian groups, but are remote from the Austronesian-speaking groups in mainland New Guinea and the rest of Melanesia. This finding clearly supports the hypothesis that non-Austronesians and Aboriginal Australians are descendants of the first-stage migrants to Oceania. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

山西汉族17个Y-STR基因座遗传多态性及遗传关系

为了调查山西汉族群体17个Y-STR基因座的多态性分布,探讨其群体遗传学及法医学应用价值,文章应用Y-filer TM试剂盒检测222名山西汉族无关男性个体的17个Y-STR基因座,用ABI3130遗传分析仪进行基因分型,计算等位基因频率及单倍型多样性,并结合已公开发表的国内其他13个群体相关数据资料,分析山西汉族群体遗传距离和聚类关系。结果:山西汉族个体中共检出219种单倍型,单倍型多样性为0.9999;基因多样性GD值在0.3894(DYS391)~0.9755(DYS385a/b)。从遗传距离分析发现,山西汉族与吉黑汉族之间的遗传距离最近(?0.0001),与台湾群体(0.0152)之间的遗传距离相对较远。结果表明该17个Y-STR基因座在山西汉族群体中具有丰富的遗传多态性,对建立Y染色体STR数据库、研究群体遗传学和进行法医学应用有重要意义。     

Potential use of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to study the genetic diversity in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and its relationship to heterosis

RAPD assays were performed, using 34 arbitrary decamer oligonucleotide primers and six combinations of two primers, to detect inherent variations and genetic relationships among 12 Indian and 11 exotic B. juncea genotypes. Of 595 amplification products identified, 500 of them were polymorphic across all genotypes. A low level of genetic variability was detected among the Indian genotypes, while considerable polymorphism was present among the exotic ones. Based on the pair-wise comparisons of amplification products the genetic similarity was calculated using Jaccard's similarity coefficients and a dendrogram was constructed using an unweighted pair group method was arithmetical averages (UPGMA). On the basis of this analysis the genotypes were clustered into two groups, A and B. Group A comprised only exotic genotypes, whereas all the Indian genotypes and four of the exotic genotypes were clustered in group B. Almost similar genotypic rankings could also be established by computing as few as 200 amplification products. In general, a high per cent of heterosis was recorded in crosses involving Indian x exotic genotypes. On the other hand, when crosses were made amongst Indian or exotic genotypes, about 80% of them exhibited negative heterosis. Results from this study indicate that, despite the lack of direct correlation between the genetic distance and the degree of heterosis, genetic diversity forms a very useful guide not only for investigating the relationships among Brassica genotypes but also in the selection of parents for heterotic hybrid combinations.