[Genetic studies in Banat, Romania].

The genetic change in small populations which immigrated into Rumania have been considered with selected examples from three populations: Caraşova, Lindenfeld and Sumiţa, all of which have settled down in the geographical area of Banat and have remained cultural isolates over hundreds of years in their new territory. The population of Caraşova is of Serbo-Croatian origin (Kosovo and North-Albania) and immigrated into Rumania in the 14th century. The village of Lindenfeld was populated by groups of German descent who came from Bohemia after 1830. But, Sumiţa is inhabited by Czech groups of Bohemian origin which arrived in the Banat around the same period. The present paper compares these relatively small, cultural isolates with Cornereva, an area of an old Rumanian stock as well as with ethnohistorically or geographically related peoples. Allele frequencies of 7 genetic marker systems (AB0, MN, RH, P, KM, HPA, TF) were used for the calculation of the genetic similarity and distance between these Rumanian isolates and related peoples. High genetic similarity is encountered between Lindenfeld and Sumiţa which is, apparently, due to their common Bohemian origin. Both of these populations and that of Caraşova show a relatively low genetic similarity with Cornereva, the former endemic Rumanian population. These genetic findings are in good accordance with the ethnohistory of the populations compared.