A worldwide analysis of AG molecular diversity inferred from serology

Ten population samples from different geographic origins were tested serolo gically for the AG polymorphism of human beta -lipoproteins. Their haplotyp e frequencies were used with previously published data to perform a wide an alysis of AG genetic differentiations throughout the world. Coancestry coef ficients were computed from weighted F(ST)s among populations by using a ma trix of molecular distances among AG haplotypes, which is here determined o n the basis of DNA studies. Coancestry coefficients derived from unweighted F(ST)s and more classical Prevosti distances were computed on the same dat a and used for a comparison. In all cases a highly significant correlation was found between genetics and geography on a worldwide scale, while the si gnificance of the correlation with linguistics differed. A test of signific ance of the pairwise F(ST)s among populations also gave different results d epending on whether the molecular distance matrix among AG haplotypes was i ncluded. Globally, this study shows that in spite of being highly significa ntly correlated to each other, different genetic distance measures can lead to different interpretations of the same data set. Moreover, the elucidati on of the molecular models related to the presently known serological polym orphisms may represent an additional tool for analyzing such polymorphisms in human population genetics studies.