The Caingang revisited: blood genetics and anthropometry

A total of 248 individuals belonging to four populations of Caingang Indians from southern Brazil were studied in relation to 23 genetic systems that are expressed in blood and one manifested on saliva. These results were compared with those obtained in 400 members of these same communities that were subjected to 11 body measurements. Nine polymorphic loci (MNSs, P, Rh, Duffy, Diego, Hp, PGM1, ESD, and Gc) were chosen for the calculation of the genetic distances between the four populations, which were compared with Mahalanobis's D2 differences. The two sets of values proved to be intercorrelated but neither showed a relationship with the geographic distances separating the four communities. The Caingang were previously classified linguistically as Gê, and they show several affinities with the Gê tribes, both when hematological, and morphological, characteristics are considered. A variant PGD phenotype is also described, showing a curious storage effect.