Genetically controlled enzymatic variation in a southern, biracial, semi-rural community: the Bogalusa heart study

Caucasian and Afro-American schoolchildren participating in a community-based cardiovascular screening program in Bogalusa, Louisiana are characterized with respect to phenotypic and allelic frequencies at 10 enzymatic and 3 nonenzymatic polymorphic loci. Biracial gene frequencies in Bogalusa are compared with those reported for other populations of similar ethnic composition. Intra- and interracial genetic distances within and between the racial subpopulations of Bogalusa and Seattle, Washington are compared. While the comparisons do not support the concept that northern, urban blacks have more Caucasian admixture than blacks residing in the rural South, they do suggest microdifferentiation of the two white populations.