POPULATION GENETIC COMPARISONS AMONG 8 POPULATIONS USING ALLELE FREQUENCY AND SEQUENCE DATA FROM 3 MICROSATELLITE LOCI

Eight different population samples (Moroccans, Ovambos, Papuans, Austr alian aborigines, Germans, Turks, Japanese and Chinese) were studied u sing the tetranucleotide short tandem repeat systems HumTHO1 (THO1), H umVWFA31 (VWA) and HumACTBP2 (ACTBP2). Ten alleles were differentiated in THO1, 11 alleles in VWA and 28 alleles in ACTBP2. THO1 showed 1 bp deletions in the repeat region, VWA sequence and structure variations of the 4-bp repeat motif and ACTBP2 sequence, structure and length va riations in the repeat array and deletions/insertions (1-6 bp) in the flanking regions. A phylogenetic tree was constructed (UPGMA method) l eading to branches which grouped Germans and Turks, Japanese and Chine se, and Papuans and Australian aborigines.