EXTENDED HLA HAPLOTYPES AMONG THE BARI-AMERINDIANS OF THE PERIJA-RANGE - RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER TRIBES BASED ON 4-LOCI HAPLOTYPE FREQUENCIES

Extended HLA haplotypes among Bari Amerindians living at the Perija Ra nge on the limits between Colombia and Venezuela have been defined usi ng serology for class I, electrophoresis and immuno-fixation for Bf an d C4, and PCR-SSO for class II loci typing. Haplotypes were assigned b ased on family studies and gene frequencies were calculated using a su bset of less related subjects selected from the genealogy. No rare cla ss III variants were observed, but the characteristic low HLA diversit y of isolated Amerindian populations present also in the Bari extends to Bfand C4. Thus there were only 22 different haplotypes segregating in families when nine loci were considered. All of them except three c arried BPS, C4A3, C4B*1. The null allele C4B*QO reached a frequency o f 0.147 and was predominantly present in A24 been reported using HLA a lleles or class I haplotype frequencies and other isolated South Ameri can tribes, genetic distance estimates based on A-Cw-B-DR haplotype fr equencies show a closer relationship between the two linguistically bu t geographically distant Venezuelan tribes, the Bari and the Warao, as compared to two culturally different Brazilian populations. The infor mation reported here will be useful for identifying ancestral haplotyp es in native peoples of America, for population comparison, and for di scussing the differential influence of MHC haplotype diversity and pop ulation survival when similar data on other Amerindian tribes becomes available.