Human enzyme polymorphism in the Canary Islands. VI. Northwest African influence.

The genetic polymorphism of eight red cell enzymes was analyzed in population samples from the Northwest African Continent and from the South of Spain in order to study their genetic relationships with the Canarian population. The Moroccan, Berber and Spanish populations, although geographically more distant from the Canary Islands than the Saharan and Mauritanian ones, are genetically more closely related to the Canarian population. The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase Gc allele earlier found only in the Canary Islands was detected in the Berber sample. The Spanish, Berber and African Black contributions to the Canarian hybrid population was estimated to 70, 20 and 10%, respectively.