Duffy, Kell and P blood group systems in some Jewish populations of Israel

Duffy, Kell and P blood group systems were investigated in 977 Israeli Jews. Six groups deriving from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Yemen were compared. The greatest differences between the groups occurred with regard to the Duffy blood group system, where the Fy gene was found at great frequency (0.5879) in the Yemenite Jews, a middling frequency (from 0.1083 to 0.2191) in Jews from the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe, and a low frequency of the Fya gene decreased in the following order: East European greater than Central European greater than South European greater than North African greater than Middle Eastern greater than Yemenite group. The shortest genetic distance was found between the Middle Eastern group on the one hand and the Central European and North African groups on the other. The highest values in the genetic distances were observed between the Yemenite and the other groups. Insofar as the Kell and P gene frequencies are concerned, the compared groups were similar. Comparison of the phenotype distribution by the chi-square test showed statistically significant differences between the groups only with respect to the Duffy system.