title: Globin gene-associated restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms in southern African peoples.
abstract: The combination of polymorphic restriction-enzyme sites in the 3' region of the beta-globin gene cluster shows very little variation in southern-African Bantu-speaking black and Kalahari !Kung San populations. The sites of the 5' region, on the other hand, show marked variation, and two common haplotypes are present--the "Negro" type (- - - - +) and the "San" type (- + - - +)--in frequencies of .404 and .106, respectively, in the Bantu-speakers and .262 and .405, respectively, in the San. Twenty of 23 beta s-associated haplotypes in southern-African Bantu-speaking black subjects were the same as that found commonly in the Central African Republic (CAR)--i.e., the "Bantu" type--a finding providing the first convincing biological evidence for the common ancestry of geographically widely separated speakers of languages belonging to the Bantu family. The (-alpha) haplotype has a frequency of .21 in the Venda, .07 in both the Sotho-Tswana and the Nguni, and .06 among the !Kung San. These data are interpreted in the light of Plasmodium falciparum malaria selection and population movements in the African subcontinent.
mesh_terms: D000353:Africa, Southern; D044383:Black People; D002880:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D005810:Multigene Family; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
chemical_list: D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA