Rhesus polymorphism in New Caledonia. I. Genetic structures of three local populations

Rhesus phenotypes are presented for a total of 2,052 individuals belonging to three sympatric populations of New Caledonia: Kanaks (Melanesians), Wallisians (Polynesians) and Europeans born in New Caledonia. The maximum-likelihood gene frequency estimations reveal a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the Kanak and Wallisian samples. As suggested on statistical grounds, this disequilibrium can be attributed to antigene mistypings, frequently encountered for this system. This hypothesis leads to new estimations of Rhesus haplotype frequencies for the two samples. They reveal a high degree of genetic similarity (89.6%) between Kanaks and Wallisians, with little or no evidence of admixture with Europeans from New Caledonia. The latter are genetically close to southern Europeans in having a very high R1 frequency.