Distribution of Gm allotypes among the three populations of the Miyako Islands in Okinawa.

Serum samples from 738 unrelated individuals of three populations in the Miyako Islands were tested for twelve Gm allotypes to investigate the variability of phenotypes and haplotypes. Nine phenotypes observed in these populations as well as mainland Japanese could be explained by the presence of the four Gm haplotypes, ag, axg, ab3st, and afb1b3. A good agreement was obtained in the samples of each populations between the observed and expected frequencies on the basis of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of phenotypes. These populations showed remarkable heterogeneities with one another on the basis of Gm haplotype frequency analysis. Moreover they exhibited no homogeneities with the Ryukyuans nor with the mainland Japanese. Homogeneity was found between the Ainu and the people in Ueno village but not in the other two locations. However, Gm xg haplotype, only detected in the Ainu, was not found in Ueno. These may imply a racial relationship between the Ainu and the inhabitants in Miyako in the remote past. However, there is no certainty that both of Ainu and the people in Ueno derived from the same origin, or that genetic drift due to endogamy in this village took place. The Gm phenotype and haplotype frequencies observed in Miyako show that they belong to the northern mongoloid group characterized by a high frequency of Gm ag and an extremely low frequency of Gm afb1b3. It is therefore reasonable to assume that they came from northern Asia as well as mainland Japanese.