Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-population variability of the Gm/Km system in the Madonie Mountains, one of the main geographical barriers in north-central Sicily. We analysed 392 samples: 145 from Alia, 128 from Valledolmo, 25 from Cerda and 94 from Palermo. Serum samples were tested for G1m (1,2,3,17), G2m (23), G3m (5,6,10,11,13,14,15,16,21,24,28) and Km (1) allotypes by the standard agglutination-inhibition method. We found the typical genetic patterns of populations in peripheral areas of the Mediterranean basin, with a high frequency of haplotypes Gm5*;3;23 and Gm5*;3;... The frequency of Gm21,28;1,17;... (about 16%) is rather high compared with other southern areas. Of great importance is the presence of the common African haplotype Gm 5*;1,17;..., ranging in frequency from 1.56% at Valledolmo to 5.5% at Alia. The presence of this haplotype suggests past contacts with peoples from North Africa. The introduction of African markers could be due to the Phoenician colonization at the end of the 2nd millennium b.c. or to the more recent Arab conquest (8th–9th centuries a.d.).
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Prof. B. Chiarelli, Department of Animal Biology and Genetics, University of Florence (Italy), co-ordinator of the Trinacria Project. We are grateful to Dr. M.G. Andollina and the Thalassa Association of Palermo (Italy) for their help in collecting samples. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. A. Sevin, Anthropology Centre, Toulouse (France), and Dr. A. Roggero, Department of Animal and Human Biology, University of Turin (Italy), for the data analysis. We are grateful to Prof. A. Piazza, Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, University of Turin (Italy), for the useful discussion of results and to Dr. P. Christie for the careful revision of the manuscript.
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Cerutti, N., Dugoujon, J.M., Guitard, E. et al. Gm and Km immunoglobulin allotypes in Sicily. Immunogenetics 55, 674–681 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-003-0628-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-003-0628-z