Relationship between levels of biochemical heterozygosity and morphological variability in human populations

Abstract

The relationships between the heterozygosity of the loci of biochemical and morphological traits were compared in seven Jewish populations. This comparison was based, on the one hand, on the average heterozygosity of seven biochemical loci (four blood group and two enzymatic ones) and, on the other hand, on five morphological characters. To assess the heterozygosity level for quantitative traits (normal distribution), we found it useful to measure h = CVμ, where CV is the coefficient of variation, and μ is the deviation of the population mean from the general average divided by the standard deviation of the general distribution. Actually, ‘h’ represents an inverse measure of the heterozygosity. Marked negative correlation was detected between the biochemical and morphological heterozygosity. This negative correlation was attributed to the convergent influence of inbreeding on different loci, but other possible mechanisms are discussed.