42
Table 30
Distribuuon of Haptoglobin Types in Micronesians From Rongelap Atoll
Group
All Rongelap
Selected* Rongelap
Type 1-1
—
Observed
No.in Expected,
group “%
No.
No,
1760
124
33.5
33.1
059
41
39
-
Type 2-2
Observed
Type 2-1
%
Na,
Expected,
No.
18.2
32
Sts
15.3
19
Observed
-
%
No.
47.2
83
50.0
Expected,
No.
85.5
62
0 and rare types,
Observed
a
ea
No
1.1
-
16
2
2
*Famiiy groups include only one child (see text).
were visible; two of these were very faint 2-2’s, but
the fastest-moving haptoglobin band was notseen
in them.
The Micronesian sera studied were all transferrin type CC, which is the common European
type.
Considerable caution must be exercised in extrapolating to an entire population the genefrequencies obtained from a small sample. Thists
particularly true when studying societies made up
of smail isolated or semi-isolated groups which
compartmentalize the breeding community. Thus,
the Rongelapese appearto havea fairly highfrequency of type 1-1, consistent with the general
(though not exctusive) rule that in Europe-Africa
and America the frequency of type 1-1 is higher in
populationsliving near the equator than in those
remote from tt.
Itis clear from the Micronesian studies that, at
least in some cases, an individual may have no
haptoglobin at one time, but have sufficient haptoglobin to permit typing at another ume. (In this
case, the interval was 2 years.} Examination ofthe
ahaptoglobinemic individuals gave no significant
findings. With = %of the Rongelap population
sampled, all the ahaptoglobinemic individualsfell
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,
is not at the samelocus as the Hp' and Hp’alleles.
Oneofthe sibs of an ahaptoglobinemic was a type
2-1.
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 showsalmost identical mean
BAIB excretion values for the two (exposed, 2.07 +
35
30}525
&
x
t20
AMERICAN WHITES
N=300
-
yw
2
15
o
la
&
ra
10
20
23
MARSHALL ISLANDERS | RONGELAP)
N=188
515
ad
=)
aa
+
10
i
é5
ao
3
©ke
0
B-Amino-iso-butyric Acid (BAIB) Levels. Figure
46 shows the frequency distribution of BALB excretion for the Rungelapese and that of a New
York City white population for comparison. The
two distributions are essentially complementary to
LS
15
20
2.5
Log —™ BAB
mg CREATININE
3.0
Figure 46. Frequency distributions of urinary excretion
rates of #-amino-se-butyric acid of Marshail Eslanders
(Rongelap) and U.S. whites.