engleski

Founder effect, genetic drift, gene flow, recent inbreeding and health problems in Croatian Island isolates

In this paper, the author discusses why do isolate island populations represent a particularly helpful model for genetic epidemiological studies. A thorough previous anthropological research carried out in Eastern Adriatic island isolates, Croatia, in terms of ethnohistory, geography and current demography is reviewed. The major results of the studies of population genetic structure of those populations, including model-bound and model-free approaches, the analyses of serogenetic polymorphisms and most recent studies using HLA class II, VNTR and STR DNA polymorphisms, are shortly listed. Organization of health care on the islands is analyzed, as well as the previous reports concerning specific medical problems and some autochtonous diseases in these island populations. Those include hereditary dwarfism on Krk island, Mal de Meleda on Mljet island, mental defficiency on Susak island and population genetics of cancer on all of the islands, especially those extremely isolated such as Vis and Lastovo. Finally, the authors develops an algorithm on the expected impact of population genetic phenomena such as founder effect, genetic drift, gene flow and positive assortative mating on the incidence of complex, polygenically determined diseases.

founder effect; genetic drift; gene flow; inbreeding; population genetics; anthropology

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