RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Through maternal inheritance, to explore the genetic structures and relationships of Dong, Gelao, Tujia and Yi ethnic population in Guizhou of China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The mtDNA D-loop hypervariable segment I (HVS I ) in 108 samples of four ethnic populations were sequenced. Then, the nucleotide diversity was estimated and a phylogenetic tree was constructed by Neighbor-Joining method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the detected 497 bp fragments, 86 polymorphic sites were found, and 82 different haplotypes were identified. The phylogenetic tree of four ethnic populations showed: Yi, Tujia and Gelao clustered more closely than Dong did.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Yi and Tujia population are very closely related, the reason may be that they either originate from a common ancestry or frequently undergo the gene exchanges and admixtures. The genetic relationship between Tujia and Gelao population is nearer, perhaps because they have settled in the adjacent regions. Dong and Yi population show the farthest genetic relationship, this is probably due to their different historical origins and geographic segregation.</p>