ABO,MN, Rh blood groups, Hp types and Hp level, Gm(1) factor investigations on the Gypsy population of Hungary.

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Life Sciences)

Blood and serum group examinations were made on Hungarian Gypsies. The systems examined were: A1A2BO,MN, Rh(C,Cw,c,D,E,e), haptoglobin and Gm( 1) factor. The tests were done on 507-600 persons. In the different systems examined the phenotype and gene frequency values were the following. A1A2BO system: At = 30.83%, A2 = 3.50%, A = 34.33%, В = 28.00%, AjB = 9.42%, A2B = 1.24%, AB = 10.66%; Gene frequencies: P! = 0.2308, p2 = 0.0327, ~p = 0.2635, q = 0.2169, г = 0.5196. M-N system: M = 30.97%, MN = 49.81%, N = 19.22%; Gene frequency for M = 0.5588. Rh system: Rh phenotypes ccddee = 9.66%, CcDee + CcDDee = 37.47%, Ccddee = 0.60%, CCDdee + CCDDee = 39.84%, ccDee + ccDDee = 0.40%, CcDEe = 8.48%, ccDEe ccDEE = 3.55%, CCDEe = 0.00%, Rh(D) negativity = 10.26%, Cw positivity = 1.6%. Hp system: Hp 1-1 = 5.77%, Hp 2-2 = 64.61%, Hp 2-1 = 29.23%, Hp O-O = 0.39%; Gene frequency for Hp1 = 0.20389. Serum Hp level ( mean value ) = 123.0 1 mg%. The mean values of the different Hp types: Hp 1-1 = 155.0 mg%, Hp 2-1 132.0 mg%, Hp 2-2 = 112.0 mg%. Gm ( 1) factor: frequency of the factor Gm( 1 )61.91%, gene frequency for Gm1 + 12 = 0.3763. Comparison of the authors results with those of blood and serum group examinations performed on Indian (Pakistani) populations show that the phenotype and gene frequency values of Hungarian Gypsies are similar to those of Northand especially North West Indian (Pakistani) populations. On that basis the authors consider their results as evidence of the North Indian origin of European Gypsies. The ancestors of the Gypsies probably originated in Middle-India, and migrated into the North Indian Punjab after the Arabian conquest in 1 District Polyclinic, Szigetszentmiklos (County of Pest); Forensic Medical Institute of the Semmelweis University, Budapest; State Institute of Oncology, Budapest. 2 The authors wish respectfully to dedicate this paper to Professor Dr.Dr.h.c. Frederic Verzar (Basel), the first Hungarian blood group researcher, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the publication of his work containing, like the present one, the results of blood group examinations carried out among Gypsies. Human Biology , February 1973 , Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 41-61 © Wayne State University Press , 1973 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.176 on Tue, 26 Jul 2016 04:41:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 42 В. Rex-Kiss et al. the 7th-8th century A.D. From there in the 9th century they began to migrate westward. The first groups may have reached Europe in the 12th century. The last wave came into Europe through Turkey and the Balkans in the 15th century. At that time recruitment from the East ceased. (Pott, 1844; Suchy, 1968). They first appeared on the pre-World War I territory of Hungary in the years 1300-1400. Although they have been living in Europe for at least 500-600 years, they have maintainedby and largetheir original racial characteristics and customs. On the basis of the last census (1969) their numbers are estimated at 200,000 to 300,000 in the present Hungary. A certain caste-system based on occupation has developed among them during the centuries. The highest caste is that of the musicians, then those engaged in the livestock market (horse-copers), while the lowest is that of the wandering Gypsies. On the basis of place of residence, four groups can be differenciated in Hungary. (Cserteg, 1961; Faludi, 1964) : 1. Gypsies settled among the inhabitants of towns and villages, working regularly, having a steady income and being partly assimilated into the general population; only a small minority belong to this group. 2. Gypsies living at the outskirts of villages, partly in separate settlements, engaged in intermittent work; most belong to this group. 3. Gypsies living in more remote separate settlements, in huts, shanties or primitive houses, having only occasional work and income, or not working at all. 4. Gypsies leading a wandering, nomadic life and, as a rule, unwilling to undertake even occasional work. Hirschfeld and his wife (1918-1919, 1919) were the first to perform population genetical blood group examinations. Independently, but almost simultaneously the first blood group tests of a similar kind were carried out in Hungary by Verzar and Weszeczky (1921, 1922). They were the first to perform blood group examinations on Gypsies. Naturally at that time only ABO blood group tests could be performed. Verzar and Weszeczky examined wandering Gypsies living in the County Hajdu and in the surroundings of the city Miskolc (North Hungary). The object of their work was to confirm by means of blood group examinations the relationship between Gypsies and the Nord Indian (Sanscrit) population, already demonstrated by Pott (1844) using philological methods. Since for their purpose a racially pure Gypsy population was desired, the examination of musicians and horsecopers was disregarded, as the possibility of mixing with non-Gypsies was assumed to exist among them. The results of the study proved that the Gypsies had preserved not only their original customs, manThis content downloaded from 157.55.39.176 on Tue, 26 Jul 2016 04:41:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Blood Groups, Hp, and Gm(l) in Gypsies 43 ner of living and somatic characteristics, butas a result of living in closed communitiesalso their biological characteristics, including of the ABO blood group characteristics of the North Indian (at present Pakistani) population. Since that time the investigation of the frequency distribution of the types belonging to the various blood group systems has become one of the most important chapters of physical anthropology. It was formerly considered that two populations probably had a common origin from the same ancient stock if the distributions of a blood groups in the two populations was identical or similar. Reaching firm conclusions of this kind, however, has proved to be very difficult in practice. One of the problems is that a small emigrant group need not exactly represent the tribe from which it separated. Furthermore, if the groups of emigrants are small, because of endogamy, rare recessive characteristics can rise to the surface, altering the gene composition and the phenotype distribution (see e.g. the results of the Swedish Gypsy investigations by Beckman et al., 1965). Genetic drift is produced this way. The smaller and more isolated the population, the greater is the effect of drift. The otherand more complicatedproblem is the mixing with the surrounding population. One is then faced with gene migration, in consequence of which the relative frequency of certain genes in the population examined ( and thus also the phenotype distribution) alters in accordance with the genetic composition of the emigrating individuals (Penrose, 1959). The results of examinations covering only one blood group system cannot be reliable enough to judge population relationship. However, if more blood group systems are examined with identical results in each of them, the possibility of error is reduced and more reliable conclusions can be drawn. We present the list of the publications of blood group examinations on European Gypsy populations in Table 1. Our blood group examinations among Hungarian Gypsies were begun in 1970. We aimed to compare the ABO blood group distribution among Gypsies with examinations made in Hungary 50, 38, 26 and 20 years earlier. Apart from the investigation of a small number for Rh(D) made by Backhausz et al. (1950) blood group tests among the Gypsy population for systems other than the ABO blood groups had not taken place in Hungary. A stimulus to the work also was given by the fact that data other than those of ABO blood groups regarding Gypsies living outside of Hungary were found only in a few publications and these were of This content downloaded from 157.55.39.176 on Tue, 26 Jul 2016 04:41:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 44 В. Rex-Kiss et al.