title: Polynesian origins and affinities: globin gene variants in eastern Polynesia.
abstract: Analysis of copy number variants of the duplicated alpha-, zeta-, and gamma-globin genes in eastern Polynesians revealed a high frequency of both triplicated-zeta-gene chromosomes and a specific alpha thalassemia deletion. This deletion and a novel restriction-enzyme-site polymorphism associated with a zeta zeta zeta chromosome are found only in Melanesians and Polynesians. Analysis of alpha-globin restriction-enzyme haplotypes indicated further similarities to Melanesians but suggested an additional non-Melanesian genetic component in eastern Polynesia. Several globin gene alleles showed evidence of marked frequency fluctuations due to genetic drift.
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011114:Polynesia
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D005914:Globins