GM AND KM ALLOTYPES IN 8 TRIBAL POPULATIONS OF MADYHA-PRADESH AND ORISSA, INDIA

Serum samples from eight endogamous Indian tribal populations of Madhy a Pradesh (Dhurwa, Halba, Bhatra, Muria, Maria) and Orissa (Deshia Kho nd, Binjhal, Kisan) with a total of n = 731 unrelated individuals were typed for G1M (1,2,3,17), G3M (5,10,11,13,14,15,16,21, 26), and KM (1 ). In seven of these populations five different GM haplotypes were fou nd: GM1,17;21,26; GM*1,17;10,11,13,15,16; GM*1,2, 17;21,26; GM*1,3;5, 10,11,13,14,26; and GM3;5,10,11,13,14,26. In the Kisan sample the hap lotype GM1,2,17;21,26 is absent. The intergroup variability in the di stribution of these haplotypes is considerable and statistically highl y significant. The reasons for that can be attributed to the ethnohist ory and to the genetic isolation of these eight endogamous tribal popu lations. The GM haplotype distribution pattern of all these groups is guile different from that of the non-tribal populations of India, wher eas it is in good agreement with that of the so far tested other triba l populations from India. This can be explained by different origin an d history of the Indian tribal and non-tribal populations. In the KM s ystem, too, remarkable variability is seen in the distribution of phen otype and allele frequencies among the eight tribal populations under study.