Analysis of Trihybrid Populations

F. OTTENSOOSER
Laboratorio dt Genetica Humana, Faculdade de
Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil

THE ANALYSIS of populations composed of Whites, Negroes and Indians offers

no problem if one antigen, restricted to mongoloid populations, such as Dia, and
another one limited to Negroes can be tested. However, anti-V or anti-Jsa sera
are scarce, the Diego values of Indians vary greatly, arid those of the ancestral
Indians of the mixed population are frequently unknown.
Biracial mixture has been analyzed (Ottensooser, 1944; Glass and Li, 1953)
by comparing the difference of gene frequencies between the two parental popu-
lations (pi - P2) with the difference between one of them and the mixed one
(Pi - Pm). The mixture degree will be
x =(p pm) / (pi -P2). (1)
For instance, in the Amazonian city of Codajas 0.3067 RO was found (Pm).
Sudan Negroes are known to have about 0.55 RD, and we shall use this value
as Pi, though we could take, instead, the higher value of the Bantu. Mediter-
ranean Whites and Brazilian Indians, having low RO values, may be considered
as a single component (P2 =0.05). Applying formula (1), we have:
x (0.55 - 0.3067) / 0.5 = 48.7 per cent White + Indian genes
and 51.3 per cent Negro genes.
Table 1 shows this result together with others obtained by the same method
TABLE 1. ESTIMATION OF PROPORTION OF NEGROES BY Ro FREQUENCIES
IN POPULATIONS OF NORTHERN BRAZIL

Population CodajAs Manaus Pernambuco Bahia Negroes Whites &

Sudan Indians
No. 93 156 143 71
RO frequency 0.3067 0.2292 0.1366 0.3512 0.55 0.05
Per cent
Negro genes 51.3 35.8 17.4 60.2
(a)
in the Amazonian city of Manaus and in the States of Pernambuco and Bahia.
These populations were further analyzed as follows.
If the proportion of Negroes (a) and the frequency (T) of another gene,
say 0, in the population is known, the proportion of Indians (x) and that of
Whites (y = 1 - a - x) are deduced from the gene balance:
ab+xc+ (- a -x)d=T, (2)
where the 0 frequencies of Negroes (b), Indians (c), and Whites (d) are
known from the literature. By solving equation (2) we obtain
Received January 29, 1962.
Supported by the National Research Council of Brazil.
278
 OTTENSOOSER 279
Proportion of Indians = x = [T - d + a(d - b)] / (c - d) (3)
Proportion of Whites = y= [T -c - a(b - c)] / (d - c) (4)
Thus, we get the Indian component of the Codajas series from inserting
a = 0.5134 and the 0 frequencies of table 2 (T = 0.7758, b = 0.70, c =
1.00, d = 0.65) in formula (3):
[0.7758 - 0.65 + 0.5134 (0.65 - 0.70)] / 0.35 = 28.6 per cent
Indian genes.
The White component of Codajas is obtained from the same value a =
3.5134 and the r (cde) frequencies of table 2, T = 0.1797, b = 0.22, c =
TABLE 2. GENE FREQUENCIES (T) USED TO ANALYZE
RACIAL COMPOSITION
Frequency Codajas Manaus Pernambuco Bahia Negroes Indians Whites
of gene (b) (c) (d)
0 0.7758 0.8037 0.6947 0.6818 0.70 1.00 0.65
r (cde) 0.1797 0.1789 0.2897 0.2054 0.22 0 0.35
Tests for 0 were done in 92 inhabitants of Codaja's and in 161 of Manaus; the other
numbers tested were the same as for Ro (table 1).
0, d = 0.35 applied to formula (4). The estimate is 19.1 per cent White
genes.
Or, when computing the White component of the Pernambuco series the
values of b, c and d remain the same as in the foregoing example, while a
0.1736 and T = 0.2897. Formula (4) gives 71.9 per cent White genes.
In table 3 the racial composition of the four populations is shown. The con-
TABLE 3. RACIAL COMPOSITION (IN PER CENT) OF POPULATIONS
OF NORTHERN BRAZIL
Racial Gene POPULATION
component used Codaiis Manaus Pernambuco Bahia
Negro Ro 51.3 35.8 17.4 60.2
Indian 0 28.6 38.8 10.3 0.5
White r (cde) 19.1 28.6 71.9 20.9
99.0 103.2 99.6 81.6
If Ro frequencies of Bantu instead of Sudan Negroes are adopted as basic values, racial
proportions change by less than 7 per cent.
If 0 frequencies are corrected according to Bernstein, the racial proportions change less
than I per cent except for Pernambuco (12.5 instead of 10.3 per cent Indian genes).
tributions of the Negro ancestry are given by the a values of table 1, based on
Ro frequencies, the Indian components come from 0 values of table 2, and the
White components from r (cde) values of table 2. The sum of the three racial
components derived from three different genes should approach 100 per cent.
Hereby the efficiency of the method is controlled.
In fact, two sums are nearly 100 per cent and a third one is still satisfactory.
However, in the Bahia series the result is inconsistent (81.5 per cent), partly
because of the Indian proportion. Using gene m yields a better estimate than
gene 0 ( 1 1.8 per cent instead of 0.5), but even so the sum reaches only 92.9
280 TRIHYBRID POPULATIONS

per cent. In the Bahia series the Diego data were poor, whereas in the two
Amazonian series the values derived from Diego and 0 were in good agreement.
Full serological data will be published elsewhere (Saldanha, 1962; Junqueira,
Ottensooser, Montenegro, Junqueira, and Cunha, 1962; Frota-Pessoa, Saldan-
ha, Ottensooser, Cavalcanti, and Cunha, unpublished).
The large deviation in the Bahia series might be caused by the small number
tested. Other sources of error could contribute, such as inhomogeneous sample,
arbitrary definition of the paternal populations, and small differences between
their gene frequencies and that of the mixed population. Such pitfalls must be
taken into account.
Yet the above formula allows the use of many different genes the results of
which are mutually controlled.
REFERENCES
GLASS, B., AND Li, C. C. 1953. The dynamics of racial intermixture-an analysis based
on American Negro. Amer. J. Human Genet. 5: 1-20.
JUNQUEIRA, P. C., OTTENSOOSER, F., MONTENEGRO, L., JUNQUEIRA, N. C., AND CUNHA,
A. B. 1962. Grupos sanguineos de nordestinos. An. Acad. Bras. Ci. 34: 143-152.
OTTENSOOSER, F. 1944. CAlculo do grau de mistura racial atraves dos grupos sanguineos.
Rev. Bras. Biol. 4: 531-537.
SALDANHA, P. H. 1962. Race admixture among Northeastern Brazilian populations. Amer.
Anthrop. 64: August (in press).