Genetic structures in the population of Veneto.

The genetic structures of the population residing in the provinces of Venice and Rovigo in the Veneto region at the north of the Po delta in Italy was studied in 1,210 individuals residing in 18 sampling areas, using the phenotype and gene frequencies of 7 red cell enzymes: acid phosphatase (ACP1), esterase D (ESD), glyoxalase I (GLOI), glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGD), phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1), and phosphoglycollate phosphatase (PGP). For the analysis of the distributions of phenotype and gene frequencies, standardized variance and kinship profiles were used. It was found that the genetic differentiation within each province is low, and that only two systems, GPT and PGP, are significantly different between the two provinces. The samples studied seem to belong to a mainly homogeneous population.