Survey of seven plasma protein polymorphisms in the Amhara and Oromo populations of Ethiopia

The Ethiopian population is very difficult to specify due to a very high degree of intermixing among different peoples. The two groups of the present study, the Amhara and Oromo, constitute 38% and 35% of the population, respectively. In order to investigate the genetic composition of the Amhara and Oromo, genetic polymorphisms of seven plasma proteins (F13A, F13B, ORM1, AHSG, C6, C7, and APOC2), already identified as useful anthropological markers, were studied. No statistically relevant differences were found between the two groups for all of the systems examined. ORM1 and F13A showed frequencies in the range observed in other populations of Caucasoid and Negroid origin. F13B, AHSG, and C6 displayed gene frequencies and a number of variant alleles that seem particular to these two groups. No variation was observed for C7 and APOC2. Correspondence and distance analyses were used to interpret and compare the gene frequencies of the Amhara and Oromo with those of other related populations. These methods locate Ethiopians in an intermediate position between African Blacks and a group of Caucasoid populations, confirming cultural and historical data. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.