Genetic structures in the Po Delta: principal components, systemic functions and the relative age of the beta-thalassemia polymorphism.

The principal component representations of the genetic structure of the human population of the Po Delta, obtained from 7 polymorphic loci, are compared with the representations obtained from the systemic function of gene frequencies devised by Womble 1951. It is noted that, when tridimensional representations are used, some consistency is visible in the results of the two methods for the description of the genetic population structure in the area under study. Both methods indicate that the present structure of the balanced polymorphism for beta-thalassemia in the area appears to be more recent than the structure of the neutral polymorphisms studied.