Anthropological studies among Libyans. Erythrocyte genetic factors, serum haptoglobin phenotypes and anthropometry

Abstract

Anthropological studies were done on 1276 Libyans from the Mediterranean cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, and from Sabha southward in The Sahara. The incidences of hemoglobin (Hb)-S and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency were low in the coastal areas and significantly high in Sabha. Hb-C occurred sporadically in Tripoli and Sabha, and was absent from Benghazi in the east. One case of Hb-J Benghazi was noted. There were no sigificant differences in the ABO blood group and Rh0 (D) type distributions in the three localities. G-6-PD gene GdAfrequency was significantly high in Sabha. The lowest value of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGD) gene PGDA frequency and highest value of the gene PGDC were in Sabha. Adenylate kinase (AK) gene AK2 was only detectable in Tripoli. Acid phosphatase (AP) gene Pa frequency in Sabha was more than twice that in Tripoli and Benghazi, while pc was distinctly lower in Sabha than in the northern cities. Haptoglobin gene Hp1 frequency was almost identical in all areas. Anthropometric measurements revealed overall homogeneity of the three samples, closer similarity in the coastal region to adjacent North African populations, and Negroid influence in the Sahara Libyans. Anthropometry substantiated findings from blood markers.

Some blood genetic markers of the Nuba and Hawazma tribes of Western Sudan

“…No incidence of the $ gene has been reported in the Nilotes, nor Beja tribe of the Sudan (El Hassan et al, 1968). A higher incidence of pa has been observed and reported in the Bedouins of North Sinai (0.24); the Sabha of Libya (0.32: Kamel et al, 1975);and Kuwaiti Arabs (0.20: Sawhney et al, 1984). A similar low frequency of pa has been observed in the Nubians of Egypt (0.1290) and of southern Egypt (0.1396) (Bertin et al, 1978;h i m et al, 1974).…”

Absence of the -thalassaemia syndromes in Egyptian Arabs

“…In adjacent Libya this condition was not detected in two surveys (Weatherall et al, 1971;Kamel et al, 1975).…”

Some blood genetic characteristics of several Sudanese tribes

“…The gene frequencies of the Nilotes of the present series, though small, are similar with those reported by . The Arabs of Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Libya; and the Ethiopians have been reported to have higher frequencies of R1 and R 2 and a lower frequency of Ro than the Sudanese Arabs (Banerjee et al, 1981;Bayoumi et al, 1985;Harrison et al, 1969;Kamel et al, 1975;Marengo-Rowe et al, 1974;Saha et al, 1980;Sawhney et al, 1984). However, the frequencies of the Rhesus alleles in the Egyptians are similar to those in Sudanese Arabs ( h i m et al, 1974;Hamza et al, 1976;Selim et al, 1974).…”