A Population Genetic Study of the Kota in the Nilgiri Hills, South India

Abstract

A population genetic study among the Kota of the Nilgiri Hills, South India, involved tests for abnormal haemoglobins, 5 red cell antigen systems, 4 serum protein and 13 red cell enzyme systems. Twelve systems are invariant in the Kota. The most distinctive characteristics are extremely low frequency of the A₁gene and complete absence of A₂in the ABO system, r(cde) in the Rh system, LDH^Cal-1among the enzyme systems as well as absence of abnormal haemoglobins. A comparison of gene frequencies in those systems, which show variation, suggests that the Kota are more similar to the Toda than to any other tribal or caste population of the area. Genetic distance as well as principal component analysis also reveals that the Toda and Kota are close to each other, in agreement with tradition.

Genetic studies among the sedentes and migrant oraons of eastern India

“…Similar frequencies of the acid-phosphatase alleles have been reported in the Bhils of Madhya Pradesh, tribals of Andhra Pradesh, and the Kurumba of Nilgiris (Papiha et al, 1978;Saha et al, 1976;Rao et al, 1978). A higher frequency o f p a has been reported in the Chenchu tribe of Andhra Pradesh (0.38) and the Kotas of the Nilgiris (0.46) by Ramesh et al (1980) and Ghosh et al (1977), respectively. The Kadar, I d a , and Toda of the Nilgiris and Yanadi tribe of Andhra Pradesh have a lower frequency ofpa (Saha et al, 1974(Saha et al, ,1976Reddy et al, 1982).…”

“…The mongoloid populations have been reported to have a lower frequency of EsD1 compared to various Indian populations (Papiha and Nahar, 1977). The Bhils of Madhya Pradesh and Koya Doras of Andhra (Papiha et al, 1978, Veerraju et al, 1982 and the Kotas of the Nilgiris have a slightly higher frequency of EsDl (0.71-0.74; Ghosh et al, 1977).…”

Esterase-D Polymorphism among the Yanadi of Andhra Pradesh, India

“…It is apparent that the value of EsD2 is higher in South Indian than in North Indian populations (except for Kola and Harijans of Tamil Nadu) [Ghosh et al, 1977], Most of the Mongoloid populations are also showing high EsD-fre quencies. It is interesting to note that the EsD2 frequency of the Yanadi comes closer to the Mongoloid populations.…”

Acid Phosphatase Polymorphism in Some Endogamous Populations of Andhra Pradesh

“…In a few other studies from A.P., the ACP A gene has been found to range between 0.16 and 0.20 [Busi et al, 1979;Ramesh et al, 1979;Blake et al, 1981] except in the Chenchu tribe, where it was found to be 0.459 [Ramesh et al, 1980]. Other studies from South India have revealed a high ACP A gene fre quency (0.467) in Kota [Ghosh et al, 1977] and in Thevars (0.361) of Tamil Nadu [Ananthakrishnan and Kirk, 1969], where as it was very low (0.107) in Kadars of Kerala [Saha et al, 1974], The frequencies obtained for the acid phosphatase genes in the A.P. populations do not show any var iation to suggest a clineal pattern in the distribution.…”