REDUCED VARIABILITY IN Y-CHROMOSOME-SPECIFIC HAPLOTYPES FOR SOME CENTRAL AFRICAN POPULATIONS

Only 7 nonrare haplotypes concerning Y-chromosome-specific TaqI fragme nts recognized by DNA probes p49f and p49a were encountered in 433 ind ividuals belonging to 7 populations living in central Africa. Most of the haplotypes (77.7%) are characterized by the allelic combination Al ,CO,DO,Fl,II (haplotype IV). The degree of variability displayed by th ese sequences is low in the African population studied, compared with Europeans, probably because of the recent common origin of the Bantu-s peaking populations studied and the common practice of male polygamy i n Africa.