Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2026

A Noninvasive Hair Sampling Technique to Obtain High Quality DNA from Elusive Small Mammals
Published on: March 13, 2011
Genetic structure of a tribal population, the Yanomama Indians. XIII. Dental microdifferentiation
Abstract:
Data are presented on the frequency of the following eight dental traits in 635 Yanomama and 65 Makiritare Indians: upper central incisor rotation or winging, shoveling of maxillary incisors, maxillary molar hypocone reduction, Carabelli's trait, mandibular molar cusp number, mandibular molar cusp pattern rotation of second lower premolar, and pattern of second lower premolar cusps. Yanomama dentition is unusual in the high frequency of six cusps on the mandibular molars. There is marked dental microdifferentiation between villages; significant agreement was observed between a matrix of pairwise "dental distances" based on six morphological traits and corresponding matrices based on 11 genetic systems and on geographic location.
Related Concept Videos
Conservation of Small Populations
Genetics of Speciation
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Teeth
In the bud stage, the tooth germ (an aggregation of cells) starts to form in the developing jawbone. During the cap stage, the tooth germ differentiates into enamel organ, dental papilla, and dental sac, which will later develop into the tooth's enamel, dentin and...
Genetic Variation
Genes exist in different versions called alleles, which...
Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

