Distribution of a 9.1-kb Insertion-Deletion Polymorphism Among Native and Admixed Populations from Argentina

We studied five population samples from Argentina, four drawn from Native American groups of the northeast region (Wichí, Pilagá, Toba, and Mbyá-Guaraní) and one from two small villages of the Córdoba province. In this study we report genotypes and allele frequencies of the 9.1-kb insertion-deletion polymorphism located on chromosome 22. The frequency of the deletion allele ranges from 0.276 in the Mbyá-Guaraní to 0.470 in the Pilagá. The coefficient of population differentiation is fairly low (FST=0.013), does not reflect any geographic or linguistic pattern, and seems to be more related to stochastic processes than to directional forces.