Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.5671/ca.45.1.3

Taste Sensitivity to Phenylthiocarbamide Found in South Sinai Bedouin Tribes

Anna M. Chumakova ; Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Leonid Kalichman ; Department of Physical Therapy, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Eugene D. Kobyliansky ; Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study taste sensitivity to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) amongst Bedouin tribes and compare the Bedouins with Arab and Jewish populations. Data obtained by the classic method of serial dilutions in 317 healthy male Bedouins, aged 16–70 belonging to different tribes, were examined. We discovered significant differ­ences in chemosensitivity to PTC in the Bedouin communities. A high frequency of the t allele was documented in the Bedouin tribes of Hamada, Muzeina, and “other Bedouins” and a relatively low level of the t allele frequency in the Gebelia tribe. The frequencies of non-tasters amongst Arab groups were similar in values to those of the Gebelia tribe. Three other Bedouin tribes showed very high values for the non-tasters’ frequencies. The revealed intertribal differ­ences can be explained by the genetic drift in isolated populations, on the other hand, this may be the result of endog­amy.

Keywords

sensitivity to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC); dilution method; threshold distribution; gene frequency; Bed­ouins of South Sinai

Hrčak ID:

255082

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/255082

Publication date:

31.3.2021.

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