Protein polymorphism in three South Amerindian populations

CLARIÁ D, DEMARCHI DA, MORENO AZORERO R, GARDENAL CN

ANNALS OF HUMAN BIOLOGY

Taylor & Francis

Año: 1998 vol. 25 p. 581 - 588

0301-4460

Electrophoretic polymorphism at loci coding for blood red cells and plasma proteins was analysed in three native populations of South America: Mataco and Mac (from the Gran Chaco), and Guayaki (from the Paraguayan forest). Mean heterozygosity per locus varied from 0.024 and 0.073, the Mac being the most polymorphic population, probably reflecting admixture with the caucasoid population of Asuncion city. Although the external phenotype, blood group frequencies and ethno-linguistic affiliation of the Guayaki clearly differ from those of the Chaco tribes, Nei´s genetic distances were very low and almost equidistant among the three populations. Heterogeneity of FST values among polymorphic loci would suggest the action of natural selection.