Comparative Study of Various Genetic Distance Measures between Populations for the ABO Gene

Abstract

Quantification of the genetic distance between populations is essential in many genetic research programs. Several formulae have been proposed for the estimation of the genetic distance between populations using gene frequency data. Nei’s D has been the most widely used genetic distance measure in different research programs. But the selection of a suitable measure to estimate genetic distance between real-world human populations is a very difficult task. The present study was undertaken to estimate the genetic distance between Barak Valley Muslims (BVM) and other twenty four nations with the ABO blood group gene frequency data using seven different formulae, as well as to estimate the correlation coefficients between distance measures and to work out the regression equations. Seven genetic distance measures namely Nei’s D, Nei’s Nm, La, Nei’s Da, Dc, Re and Nei’s Ne were calculated between BVM and other 24 nations. Correlation coefficients of Nei’s D with other measures were determined to find out which other genetic distance measures were similar to Nei’s D. Linear regression equations of Nei’s D with other distance measures were determined. Nei’s D showed a highly significant (p=0.01) positive correlation with Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards chord distance Dc (0.90), Reynolds Re (0.90), Nei’s Da (0.74) and Nei’s Ne (0.63) but a negative correlation with Nei’s Nm and La. Since Nei’s D had very high positive correlation with Dc and Re distance measures, any one of these measures could be reliably used in genetic analysis instead of all the three measures for estimating genetic distance between populations.