Anthropological implication of the SDF1-3′A allele distribution in Southeast Asia and Melanesia

Abstract

The distribution of the SDF1-3′A allele among 1848 individuals in Southeast Asia and Melanesia was studied with the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The SDF1-3′A allele frequency in the populations of mainland Southeast Asia ranged from 0.0 to 0.355, whereas in the populations of insular Southeast Asia and Melanesia, it ranged from 0.233 to 0.733, with an increasing cline from west to east. Correlation between SDF1-3prime;A frequency and longitude values was highly significant for the populations in the Pacific region (r = 0.867, P < 0.001). The geographic distribution of the SDF1-YA frequencies in the Pacific region was interpreted by an admixture of Austronesians with the aboriginal people in situ. In addition, this study found high proportions of SDF1-3′A/3′A homozygous individuals in several populations, which will enable us to evaluate roles of the SDF1 genotypes in SDF-1 expression.