Population Genetic Study of Indigenous Peoples of Wallacea

Wallacea是研究太平洋人类活动的关键区域。这个地区由无数的岛屿组成，位于古太平洋物种的摇篮Sundaland和Sahulland之间。Wallacea的早期居民可能有古老的联系，经常与后来移民的民族重叠。在瓦利西亚有一些土著民族，他们的起源是未知的。人们提出了不同的理论，不同学科的许多研究都试图阐明这些民族复杂的起源问题。我们需要通过对该地区现存种群的遗传结构的研究来为这些论点增加实质性内容。对Wallacea的土著人民进行日本-印度尼西亚联合人口遗传研究以阐明其起源似乎是合适的。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流行环境的遗传性状。在这三个财政年度里，我们检查了大约500名居住在研究地点的无血缘关系的个人。为了了解土著人的人类学和种群遗传特征，我们进行了以下检查：遗传标记、卵母细胞和疟疾感染、DNA多态性、人类学测量（身高、体重、跨度、头指数等）、躯体学特征、粪便中的肠道寄生虫。这三个群体在DNA多态性方面表现出显著不同的遗传特征。因此，分析东南亚其他土著人口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.