ANALYSIS OF VNTR DNA POLYMORPHISMS IN THE POPULATION OF THE ISLAND OFHVAR, CROATIA

The aim of this study was to initiate the collecting of hypervariable DNA polymorph isms data in the Croatian population, as it has already been clone in some other populations worldwide. Two VNTR loci, D7S22 a nd D12S11, were studied in the sample of 30 inhabitants of the eastern region of the Island of Hvar: The binned allele frequency distributio n of D12S11 was compared to the ones reported for nine other world pop ulations. The cluster analysis showed that the population of the Islan d of Hvar was joined to the cluster constructed by the analysed Europe an and North American populations, to which the Asian and Afro-Caribbe an populations were joined later on. The factor analysis divided the A merican and European populations (including the analysed Hvar populati on) from the Afro-Caribbean and Asian populations. The results of the factor analysis, when shown in two-dimensional discriminate space dete rmined by two extracted principal components, revealed that the Croati an population was much closer to the European and the U.S. Caucasian p opulations.