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Admixture and Heterozygosity in West Alaskan Populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Pamela J. Byard ,
M. S. Schanfield  and
Michael H. Crawford
Pamela J. Byard
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
M. S. Schanfield
Affiliation:
American Red Cross Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Michael H. Crawford
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
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Summary

Average heterozygosities for four communities (Savoonga and Gambell on St Lawrence Island, the King Island community now located in Nome, and Wales) are computed from blood allele frequencies. No significant relationship is found between this measure of heterozygosity and the amount of European admixture calculated from gamma globulin haplotype frequencies, indicating that forces other than European gene flow are affecting relative heterozygosity. However, within the two villages on St Lawrence Island, admixed individuals as a group have significantly higher average heterozygosity than non-admixed individuals. These results suggest that European gene flow significantly increases population heterozygosity when examined from a micro-populational or individual level, but may be obscured by other factors when several different populations are compared. This is probably because inter-village variation in admixture proportions, which range from zero to 8%, is small.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , April 1983 , pp. 207 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © 1983, Cambridge University Press

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