Genetic markers in Siberian and northern North American populations

A review of Siberian and North American arctic and subarctic data shows that the “Caucasian” genetic markers A 2 , K , r , Gm f;b , AK 2 and P c occur in some Uralic‐speaking people of northwestern Siberia who are without recent European admixture. In northeastern Siberia these genes are either absent or are found in known hybrids. The Mongoloid markers are unevenly distributed in Siberia, as they are in North America. Di a and Tf   D   Chioccur across the subcontinent, but Tf  B   0‒1appears confined to the western and central regions. In North America, unlike in Siberia, Di a is generally absent from Eskimos, is rare in Athapaskans, and becomes generally polymorphic in Algonkian‐speaking Indians. Neither transferrin variant has been identified to date in Eskimos or subarctic Athapaskan‐speakers, although Tf   D   Chioccurs in Algonkians. Tf  B   0‒1in North America is most common in the American southwest and in Central America. Both Gm f,a;,b0,b1,b3,b4,b5 and Gm z,a; b0,b3,b5,s,t are present in Siberia, but only the latter haplotype has been observed on mainland North America. Neither albumin nor UMPK variants have been searched for in Siberia. In North America, Al Na is confined to Indians. The low Fy a frequencies reported for Siberians have not been confirmed by other investigators. R 0 , however, is widespread and is particularly common in south central Siberia.