The HL-A gene structure of Twareg populations. II. The Kel Dinig.

The HL-A groups of 138 Kel Diniq Twaregs were determined by the platelet complement fixation microtechnique. Their HL-A characteristics, compared to those of Caucasoid populations, are: decrease in HL-A2, 9, W17 and W15; increase in W28, W32, HL-A7, W5, W10 and second locus blank; absence of Da25 (W30 plus W31), HL-A13, W15, W18, W27. This genetic structure is in accordance with the isolated condition of this population. The most frequent haplotypes are W28,HL-A7, common to both the Kel Diniq and the Kel Kummer Twaregs previously studied; W32,W10 and HL-A3, HL-A5, Kel Diniq only. These two populations are both isolates, with a common origin the seventeenth century, but separated as from that date. Genealogical studies have enabled the haplotype W28,HL-A7 to be attributed to the two brothers who founded the populations in the seventeenth century. A comparison of these two populations constitutes a model for the study of genetic drift and the founder effect.