The effective number of haplotypes (ne) and the observed heterozygosities ranged from 1.2 to 2.4 and 0.164 to 0.582, respectively,

among the tribes investigated at the present study grouped with those studied by GUERREIRO et al. (1992) and GUERREIRO (1992). The higher

values were observed for the Xavante tribe and the lowest for the Yanomami.

6. The phylogenetic analysis performed with seven Indians populations studied for the p-globin gene cluster showed a group with 3 Carib language tribes: Wai-Wai, Wayana-Apalai e Arara. The Xavantes differentiated more from the other six Indian tribes and showed a genetic

distance of 0.035 in relation to them.

7. The frequencies of the p globin gene cluster haplotypes observed on Brazilian Indians are on the same range than those described in Asian and Pacific Island populations.

8. A reduction of variability was verified in relation to Europeans (51.3%) and Pacific Islanders (34.6%) when the average GSI (0.303) from these Indians was compared with the GSIs of other ethnic-geographic

populations. No reduction was verified in relation to Asian populations.

9. The largest reduction in variability occurs for the Yanomami and Wai-Wai samples. The Xavante GSI (0.582) is larger than the average GSI for Asians (0.295) and Pacific Islanders (0.463). The Xavante GSI is only lower than the average obtained for Europeans (8.4%).

10. The results obtained for the p globin gene cluster haplotypes showed that Indians and Asians are related. Therefore these results agree with the Asian origin theory for these populations.

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