Race, genetics and growth

Abstract

Much of our understanding of the biological differences between races has come with the development of human genetics. Surveys have established the frequencies of genetic characters known to be under the control of single genes and independent of environmental modification; comparisons of these frequencies in different populations have led to the resolution of many of the earlier outstanding problems of affinities between races and, with the support of experimental and associated investigations, to the identification and measurement of the processes that have given rise to race formation. With this information we can begin to appreciate the extent to which apparent differences are due to racial heritage and to environmental influences.

Ancestry and dental development: A geographic and genetic perspective

“…Aside from variations in dental morphology and anomalies, variations in the rate (e.g., accelerations or decelerations) of dental development have been noted across populations. For example, previous work has shown that Africans precede Europeans in the timing of tooth formation (Harris & McKee, ; Roberts, ), by achieving each of the stages of dental development about 5% earlier (Harris & Rathbun, ). Among the studied populations, Australians have the fastest dental development and Koreans have the slowest, a difference that has been attributed to ecological and genetic factors (Chaillet, Nystrom, & Demirjian, ).…”

“…Thus, a geographic and genetic approach of ancestry is necessary to explain the variations in timing of dental development. In addition, the recognition of differences in dental development within a population is important to better understand the environmental influence and genetic implications (Garn, Lewis, & Blizzard, ; Garn, Lewis, & Kerewsky, ; Roberts, ; Townsend, Hughes, Luciano, Bockmann, & Brook, ).…”

Birthweight and sociobiological factors in Ilorin, Nigeria

“…While this difference may partly represent long term adaptation to large scale environmental factors (e.g. Roberts, 1969), more immediate environmental variables are most likely to be primarily responsible, e.g. better health care services, better nutritional status and better socioeconomic conditions of mothers in Europe and America.…”

Developmental Genetics of Man

“…Roberts (1969) detected an apparent genetic component in racia1 differences. Resu1ts from twin and fami1ia1 studies are shown in Tab1e 5.…”