Table 30
Distribution of Haptoglobin Types in Micronesians From Rongelap Atoll
Type 1-1
Group
No.in
group
All Rongelap
Selected* Rongelap
176
124
Observed
Type 2-2
%
No.
Expected,
No.
33.5
33.1
59
41
59
~
Observed
%
18.2
15.3
No.
Type 2-1
Observed
Expected,
No.
31.5
-
the fastest-moving haptoglobin band was not seen
in them.
The Micronesian sera studied were all transferrin type CC, which 1s the common European
type.
Considerable caution must be exercised in extrapolating to an entire population the gene frequencies obtained from a small sample. This is
particularly true when studying societies made up
of small isolated or semi-isolated groups which
compartmentalize the breeding community. Thus,
the Rongelapese appearto havea fairly highfrequencyof type 1-1, consistent with the general
47.2
50.0
83
62
85.5
-
1.1
1.6
2
2
(though not exclusive) rule that in Europe-Africa
and America the frequency of type 1-1 is higher in
populations living near the equator than in those
remote from it.
It 1s clear from the Micronesian studies that, at
least in some cases, an individual mayhave no
one another, and, if superimposed, exhibit bimodality with the antimode in the neighborhood
of 1.75. With this point used as the division between high and low excretors,it is estimated that
nearly 90% of the Rongelapese are high excretors.
A breakdown ofthis population into exposed and
unexposed groups shows almost identical mean
BAIB excretion values for the two (exposed, 2.07 +
35
30h
FREQUENCY (PERCENT)
were visible; two of these were very faint 2-2’s, but
haptoglobin at one time, but have sufficient haptoglobin to permit typing at another time. (In this
case, the interval was 2 years.) Examination of the
ahaptoglobinemic individuals gave no significant
findings. With = %4 of the Rongelap population
sampled, all the ahaptoglobinemic individualsfell
is not at the same locus as the Hp’ and Hp?’alleles.
Oneofthe sibs of an ahaptoglobinemic was a type
2-1.
Figure
46 showsthe frequencydistribution of BAIB ex-
cretion for the Rongelapese and that of a New
York City white population for comparison. The
two distributions are essentially complementary to
2567
AMERICAN WHITES
to
1.5
20
25
MARSHALL ISLANDERS (RONGELAP)
N=1868
FREQUENCY (PERCENT)
into one family grouping. This did not help to
elucidate the genetic pattern, except to makeit
appear unlikely that the Hp?°allele, if such exists,
ne fe NS a rree = ig ee eee
No.
Observed
Expected, ———_——_-——
No.
%
No.
DOE ARCHIVES
*Family groups include only one child (see text).
B-Amino-iso-butyric Acid (BAIB) Levels.
%
0 and rare types,
mg BAB
mg CREATININE
Figure 46. Frequencydistributions of urinaryexcretion
rates of B-amino-:so-butyric acid of Marshall] Islanders
(Rongelap) and U-S. whites.
mm mtre ee ee
_o