A population genetic study of the Banks and Torres Islands (Vanuatu) and of the Santa Cruz Islands and polynesian outliers (Solomon Islands)

Abstract

As part of a multidisciplinary survey of populations in the Banks and Torres Islands of Vanuatu and the Southern and Central Districts of the Solomon Islands, nearly 2,400 persons have been tested for ABO blood groups and a number of serum protein and red cell enzyme genetic marker systems. For the ABO system, the populations are characterized in general by high gene O and low gene B frequencies except in two of the Polynesian Outlier Islands, Rennell and Bellona, which have high frequencies of B. Among the serum proteins, several alleles have distributions indicating significant movement of people between islands. These include Albumin New Guinea and the transferrin alleles TfD1, and TfBLae, and TfB2. Similar specific alleles for red cell enzymes also show distributions reflecting interisland population movement as well as contact with persons from outside the southern Pacific region. Examples are ACPR1 in the acid phosphatase system, PGM31 and PGM71, PGM92, and PGM102, PGK4 and also HbJTongariki. The data available for 11 polymorphic systems were used to generate genetic distances. Of the four Polynesian Outlier Islands, Anuta is most remote genetically, with Rennell and Bellona also relatively isolated. The fourth Polynesian Outlier, Tikopia, occupies a position genetically close to the Melanesian populations of the Banks and Torres Islands and the southern Solomons. The history of early European contact and voyaging in the Pacific, as well as archaeological and linguistic evidence and local legends, indicate that significant movements of people occurred between islands and provided opportunities for genes to be introduced from Europeans, Africans, and Asians. The genetic marker studies give evidence for genes from all these sources, though at a low level. Despite this admixture, the Polynesian Outlier and Melanesian populations have preserved their own distinctive genetic patterns.

Antibodies to HTLV‐I in populations of the southwestern Pacific

“…Since there was consistent, if not ideal, overall agreement between ELISA, ATLA, and immunoblotting, we felt confident that ELISA was adequate to identify populations with high and low prevalences of serum antibodies to HTLV-I, although not to attempt more sophisticated analyses such as those of household clustering [Kazura et aI., 19871. 19561968I979 1960197419791960Adels and Gajdusek, 1963Simmons et al, 1958Gajdusek et al, 1972Tesh et al, 1975Curtain et al, 1965Gajdusek et al, 1972 Adels andGajdusek, 1963;Curtain et al, 1965;Gajdusek et al, 1972 Coker-Vann et al, 198 Lang et al, 1977;Polynesian 95 1972Blake et al, 1983Lang et al, 1977;Polynesian 102 1972Blake et al, 1983Lang et al, 1977;Melanesian 88 1972Blake et al, 1983Lang et al, 1977;…”

Y‐chromosome diversity is inversely associated with language affiliation in paired Austronesian‐ and Papuan‐speaking communities from Solomon Islands

“…Genetic research is particularly sparse. Although the subject of limited blood group surveys from the 1950s (Blake et al, 1983;Douglas et al, 1962;Walsh and Kooptzoff, 1955) and during the 1980s the focus of a major research initiative led by Jonathan Friedlaender (1987, surprisingly little is known about population genetic structuring among Solomon Island peoples. Blood-group studies class Solomon Island populations with other Melanesian groups in close geographic proximity, but long-term and long-range relationships are more obscure.…”

Making blood ‘Melanesian’: Fieldwork and isolating techniques in genetic epidemiology (1963–1976)

“…6 Gajdusek took a special interest in the people who lived on Tongariki, in the Shepherds' cluster of islands. As this sector was just north of the only region where legislation existed about the control of malaria on plantation land (indicating that significant amounts of terrain was cultivated for cash crops and not the 'traditional' land use practices of 'isolated' cultures), applying the definition of culture he (Gajdusek, 1973). Note that the northern and southern ends of the archipelago (much of which he eventually did visit aboard the Alpha Helix) are not depicted.…”

“…The major publications from the New Hebrides material on the Alpha Helix tour were on blood groups (Blake, Hawkins, Kirk, Bhatia, Brown, Garruto, & Gajdusek, 1983) and on the relationship between antibodies and particular viruses (Brown, Tsai, & Gajdusek, 1975;Lang, Garruto, & Gajdusek, 1977). This group of researchers around Gajdusek also contributed to understanding the genetic dimensions of malaria ecology (Brown, Collins, Gajdusek, & Miller, 1976).…”