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Bukharan and Georgian Jews have lived in central Asia for many centuries. Approximately 30,000 Bukharan and 37,000 Georgian Jews lived in their respective countries within the USSR between 1920 and 1960. Genetic markers of blood--blood groups, isoenzymes, HLA antigens, and gamma and kappa chain allotypes--were tested in blood samples from 113 Bukharan and 134 Georgian Jews living in Israel. Estimates of inbreeding were low: alpha = 0.0088 for Bukharan and alpha = 0.0011 for Georgian Jews. G6PD deficiency was relatively rare in Bukharan (2.2%) and in Georgian Jews (6.0%), when compared to other Jews in the area. Both populations showed frequencies of some markers similar to that of other Jewish populations, but frequencies of several markers were extremely high or low. Bukharan Jews showed very high frequencies of B(0.243), cDe (0.122), JkA (0.705), HLA-A29 (0.167), A30 (0.116) and B7 (0.124), and AcPA (0.451) and very low ones of O(0.518), CDe(0.422), AcPB (0.513) and GLO1 (0.140). Very high frequencies in Georgian Jews were observed for cDE (0.189), HLA-A3 (0.194), Bw35 (0.300) and GLO1 (0.367). Yet the greatest difference between both populations was in African characters. While in Bukharan Jews Fy was very frequent (0.146) and cDe was the highest observed among Jews (0.122), neither of these markers was detected among the Georgian Jews tested. Yet, another African character, the Gm1,5,10,11,13,14,17,26 haplotype, occurred in both populations (0.028 and 0.042 in Bukharan and Georgian Jews, respectively). Distance measures for Bukharan, Georgian, Iranian, Cochin, and Libyan Jews based on 13 polymorphic loci showed the greatest distance between Cochin Jews and the other populations and the smallest distance between the Georgian and Iranian Jews.

Ninety-eight alleles in 38 polymorphisms of blood are identified in the Schmiedeleut Hutterites. The study was initiated because of the presence of Wda, an allele found almost exclusively in Hutterites. Eight of the other alleles also have an exceedingly low incidence in a random white population: r'' (.006), R2w (less than .001), LWb (less than .01), ESD*rare (less than .001), GPT*0 (.004), NP*4 (less than .001), GOT2*3 (.001), and C6*0 (.002). The occurrence of this many rare alleles in a population with an estimated maximum of 124 ancestral genomes was surprising but consistent with observations in other isolates. The degree of heterozygosity and large family size make the population ideal for genetic linkage studies.

The period in which Jews were first associated with Cochin and the Malabar coast was by tradition, after the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE). Yet, the earliest evidence of Jewish settlements is from the tenth century CE. The largest group of Cochin Jews are the "Black Jews," of whom about 4,000 live in Israel. A high frequency of consanguineous marriages prevailed among Cochin Jews. Their mean height and weight were low when they came to Israel in 1954; an increase in both was observed 20 years later. Some of the allele frequencies of blood groups, isoenzymes, and HLA antigens were similar to those in other Jewish communities. In the high O, M, cde, and HLA-A28 and the low cDE allele frequencies Cochin Jews resembled Yemenite Jews. A few allele frequencies, the high Fya, AK2 and the low Jka and Hp1, were similar to those observed in indigenous southern Indian populations. In most HLA antigen and haplotype frequencies the Cochin Jews showed a distribution similar to that observed in other Jews and Caucasoids. No comparable HLA data on southern Indian populations were available. The results indicate that Cochin Jews have similarities with Jews, in particular Yemenite Jews, and with the indigenous populations of southern India.

Serum samples from 223 Jews from Cochin, India were tested for Gm(1,2,3,5,6,13,14,17,21,26) and for Inv(1). Certain samples were also tested for Gm(15) and Gm(16). The Cochin Jews are polymorphic for: 1) Gm3, a haplotype that does not lead to the formation of gamma 3, as was shown by tests of the serum of a homozygote, and 2) Gm1,17,21, a haplotype lacking Gm(26), which is ordinarily present in this haplotype. The Gm data indicate considerable admixture with southern Indians. There is no evidence for African admixture, such as has been found for all other Jewish populations studied thus far. The Inv data are similar to those for other Jewish populations.

Iranian Jews represent a very ancient Jewish community with a high frequency of inbreeding. A sample of Iranian Jews, mainly unrelated students, was tested for genetic markers of red blood cells and serum. The frequency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was not uniform among Jews who had lived in different areas of Iran; it was lower among those from central Iran (6.7%) than in those from southern and western Iran (16.7% and 20.6%, respectively). The frequencies of B, CDe, cDE, S, and K alleles were among the highest recorded in Jewish ethnic groups. Iranian Jews were similar to Iraqi Jews with respect to the frequencies of the blood markers B, CDe, cde, cDe, ACP, PGM1, ADA, and Hp; however, the B and CDe markers occur with similar frequencies among indigenous Iranians. The presence of the cDe allele and the Gm1,5,13,14,17 haplotype in low frequencies indicates black admixture. Mongoloid admixture is indicated by the polymorphism of the Gm1,13,15,16,17 haplotype. The very rare phenotype Gm(3,5,13,14,17) was observed in 4.8% of 167 individuals tested. This phenotype has not been previously observed among Jews.