Anthropological survey on north Cameroon peopling: I. GC subtyping (with a brief overview on the GC distribution in sub-Saharan Africa)

Abstract

Group-specific component (GC) polymorphism was investigated in 1324 subjects belonging to 12 ethnic groups from North Cameroon including Daba, Fali, Fulbe, Kanuri, Mada, Mafa, Mandara, Mundang, Uldeme, Podokwo, Tali, and Tupuri. The GC*1F frequency ranged from 0.785 among Fulbe to 0.847 among Mundang, that of GC*1S from 0.071 among Mafa to 0.125 among Fulbe and that of GC*2 from 0.035 among Uldeme to 0.092 among Tupuri. The results obtained are discussed in the light of the knowledge about the distribution and the possible selective relevance of GC polymorphism.