Hemoglobin and red cell enzyme variation in some populations of the republic of Vietnam with comments on the malaria hypothesis

Abstract

The blood of Vietnamese, Khmer, Cham, Rhade, Sedang and Stieng populations of the Republic of Vietnam was studied for hemoglobins, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and adenylate kinase by starch gel electrophoresis. Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite rates were obtained in all groups but the Stieng. The prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was lowest in the Sedang (0.004), the Vietnamese (0.014) and the Rhade (0.023). The highest prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was found in the Stieng (0.153). The lowest frequencies of hemoglobinE were in the Vietnamese (0.025) and the Sedang (0.029). All other groups had high frequencies of hemoglobinE, the highest being the Stieng (0.365). The prevalence of phosphogluconate dehydrogenaseB ranged from 0,000 in the Stieng to 0.054 in the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese were not differentiated from the Sedang at the glucose-6-phosphate dehydTogenase or the hemoglobin loci but were differentiated at the phosphogluconate dehydrogenase locus. Using the three markers most of the populations studied in South Vietnam were distinguishable one from the other. There was variable correlation between the frequency of hemoglobinE and the prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. A correlation of the endemicity of falciparum malaria and the frequency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and of hemoglobinE was inconclusive. The frequency of the adenylate hinaseZ allele was low to absent. Adenylate hinase3 was found in the Khmer and in the Stieng.

The ‘Hot Spot’ of Hb E [β26(B8)Glu→Lys] in Southeast Asia: β‐Globin Anomalies in the Lao Theung Population of Southern Laos

“…Reliable data from the precombat era are not available, but in the adjacent hill regions of Vietnam, malaria was holoendemic or hyperendemic before eradication efforts began (23). Although there is a general congruity of the distribution of Hb E and tropical malaria, HBB*E frequencies vary greatly in Southeast Asian populations in similar environments (24), and the lower HBB*E frequency in the Oy, as compared to that of the So and Alak/Ngeh, are an example of this discrepancy. Since both groups live in a very similar environment, differences of selective pressure are not a likely explanation for the different HBB*E frequency.…”

The mystery of the mystery of common genetic diseases

“…Independently established anthropological data allows, for example, the conclusion that current self-identified Ashkenazi Jews (and populations primarily composed thereof) are closely genetically related and most likely descended from a single historical population that migrated and established itself in central Europe in roughly the 8th-9th century (Frisch et al 2004). On the other hand, the allelic distribution of hemoglobinopathies is not so localized to any one population (Livingstone 1971) and tends to strongly correlate with malaria-endemic environments (Bowman 1964;Bowman et al 1971).…”

Genetic evidence of gene flow from Indians to Malays

“…The frequency of the AK 2 allele is very low among Orientals. The gene frequencies of AK 2 for Orientals in Seattle, USA, Japan and Vietnam are 0, 0 and 0.3~, respectively (Giblett and Scott, 1969;Omoto and Harada, 1970;Bowman et al, 1971).…”