Population studies in northern Sweden

Electrophoretic variants of serum transferrin were studied in a series of 4400 individuals from northern Sweden. The individuals were distributed according to place of birth into 23 subpopulations. Five different transferrin variants (B0, B0–1, B2, Dchi and DFin) were found. A significant regional variation was found for two variants (B0–1 and DChi), which show a relatively high frequency in Finland. The highest frequencies of these variants were found in parishes located along the Finnish border. Using the B0–1 and DChi variants as markers, the Finnish admixture in these parishes was estimated to about 70 per cent. The B0–1 and DChi variants appear to have been introduced into Sweden by different historical migrations.