Population Genetic Study of Indigenous Peoples of Wallacea

Wallacea是阐明太平洋人口变化的关键区域。这一地区由无数岛屿组成，位于古代太平洋股票的摇篮孙达兰和萨胡兰之间。瓦拉西亚的早期居民可能有古老的联系，经常与后来移民的人重叠在一起。瓦莱西亚有土著民族，他们的起源一直不详。人们提出了不同的理论，不同学科的许多研究试图阐明这些民族复杂的起源问题。我们需要通过研究这一地区活着的人口的遗传结构来为这些论点增添实质内容。现在似乎是时候对瓦拉西亚的土著人民进行日本-印度尼西亚联合人口遗传学研究，以阐明他们的起源。在目前的研究中，兴趣还集中在寻找可能导致适应寄生虫病高发环境的遗传特征。在这三个财政年度，我们检查了大约500个生活在研究地点的无关个体。为了了解土著民族的人类学和群体遗传学特征，我们进行了以下检查：遗传标记、卵细胞增多症和疟疾感染、DNA多态、人类学测量(身高、体重、跨度、头骨指数等)、躯体特征和粪便中的肠道寄生虫。这三个群体在DNA多态方面表现出明显不同的遗传特征。因此，分析东南亚其他土著群体之间的遗传关系是很有意义的。

Wallacea is a key area to elucidate the peopling of the Pacific. This area comprises the myriad islands and lies between Sundaland, the cradle of ancient Pacific stock, and Sahulland. The early inhabitants of Wallacea might have ancient connections, frequently overlaid with peoples who immigrated at later dates. There are indigenous peoples in Wallecea whose origins have been unknown. Different theories have been proposed, and many studies in various disciplines have attempted to shed light on the question of the complex origins of these peoples. We need to add substance to these arguments by studies of the genetic structure of the living populations of this area. It seems opportune to conduct Japan-Indonesia joint population genetic studies on the indigenous peoples in Wallacea to elucidate their origins. In the present study, interests are also focused on the search for genetic traits that may lead to adaptation to their environments with high prevalence of parasitic diseases.In these three fiscal years, we have examined approximately 500 unrelated individuals who live in the research sites. To know the anthropological and population genetic characteristics of the indigenous peoples, we have conducted the following examinations: genetic markers, ovalocytosis and malaria infection, DNA plymorphisms, anthropological measurements (height, weight, span, cephalic index, etc.), somatological features, intestine parasites in feces. These three populations exhibit significantly different genetic features in terms of DNA polymorphisms. It is, therefore, interestint to analyze genetic relationships among the other indigenous populations in South East Asia.