RESUMO
Genetic affinities between the migrant groups of fishermen from Puri and their parental counterparts in the Southern areas were examined using 11 genetic loci: four blood groups, five red cell enzymes, and two serum proteins. The samples for the parental populations (about 430 subjects) were drawn from 34 villages spread along the 400 km coast in Ganjam district of Orissa and the contiguous Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam, and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. Significant departures between the migrant groups and their parental counterparts were observed at some loci, although the configuration of interpopulation distances among the migrants mimicked that of the parental populations. While the observed differences may be due to a founder effect and subsequent random genetic drift in at least two of the three small populations, given high child mortality and the systematic nature of differences observed, the role of selection cannot be totally ruled out. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
