The Journal of Heredity 2002:93(5)
© 2002 The American Genetic Association 93:387
Book Review |
The Evolution and Genetics of Latin American Populations
Department of Pathology, UCSD Medical Center, San Diego, CA 92103
By F. M. Salzano and M. C. Bortolini. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 2002.
This is an extraordinary book by an acknowledged Brazilian master of genetics and his associate. For the first time, the "Latin Americas" (a designation first used by the French) are comprehensively reviewed from an anthropological and genetic point of view. An enormous amount of literature is gathered here, incorporated into a successful synthesis that studies the composition and origin of Latin American populations.
The book is organized into 10 chapters. Each chapter has a large number of tables that provide summaries and give access to the vast literature of the respective topics. The authors first review in great detail the evolution of the mixed origin of South American populations—from their inception some 30,000 years ago to the influences of colonization, slave imports, and later influxes from Asia—and they conclude that "the Latin American world emerged out of turbulence." The structure of this world's emerging population is then examined in considerable detail with respect to various population movements. The authors consider the effects of inbreeding and aging, and from these, future perspectives are derived. The monumental work of Freire-Maia is discussed in some detail in the third chapter; there follow discussions of studies on the effects of nutrition, altitude, and genetic factors. The emergence of obesity and blood pressure elevations are presented in numerous cited investigations, but many of these are studies that are often unknown to English speakers, with our limited access to this literature. The authors then summarize aspects of assortative mating, preferences of mating choices, and the distribution of such characteristics as variabilities in heterochromatin and the morphology of the Y-chromosome of different Latin American populations. Health and disease, especially the effects and distribution of infectious diseases as well as their prevalence, are described, as is their lack of being subject to genetic elimination—topics of considerable interest. The poorly known effects of a major radiation accident are referred to, and the authors provide an especially detailed review of the distribution of hemoglobinopathies, complex studies that have been a major research interest for Professor Salzano. This review is followed by an examination of the distribution of G6PD variants; it is interesting to learn here that no altered G6PD has thus far been found in the Amerindians, while numerous variants are found (with different frequencies) in the rest of the population. Blood groups and albumin variants are presented, and the general dynamics of gene flow are detailed. The authors' final expectation expresses that there is universal gene flow in South American populations, irrespective of the influences of racial discrimination and national policies.
The final chapter is the authors' synthesis of the massive amount of information they have reviewed, with limited predictions of future development of the population (e.g., gene flow, aging, and possible health policies to be derived from this knowledge).
The Evolution and Genetics of Latin American Populations is not a book for an evening read, but one whose extensive bibliography (one third of the volume) provides access to a voluminous literature that would otherwise be difficult to access. One needs to consult the tables with the collected information of numerous investigations of gene frequencies, distribution of physical and genetic characters, etc., over and over again in order to gain insight into this extremely complex population. It emerges that "Latin America" is composed of an extraordinarily varied and complex populace. One can easily understand that more isolated populations, such as those of the Caribbean Islands, may be very homogeneous, and that the enormous admixture of "races" (a concept discussed in a fascinating section), which has led to the complexity of the largest South American country, Brazil, provides special challenges. This book provides the background required from anthropological and genetic studies to unravel these questions, as well as a rich background source for future studies, and it is highly recommended.
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