Genetic studies in four tribal populations of the Surat District, Gujarat (India)

SummaryFour tribal populations (Chaudhuri, Vasava, Kotwalia and Gamit) of the Surat District in Gujarat (India) have been investigated for the distribution of 22 polymorphic systems of the blood. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) The allele frequencies show considerable heterogeneity among these populations. (2) From the genetic structure analysis it is seen that only a small fraction of the total gene diversity accounts for genetic differences among them, and the major portion of it is due to genetic variation within them. (3) Analysis of genetic distance according to Nei (1972) reveals that the Vasava and Kotwalia show a rather close genetic relationship, while the Chaudhuri and Gamit differ from both the Vasava and Kotwalia.