Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 5, 1 May 1987 — He Mau Ninau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
He Mau Ninau Ola
by Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D.
Ninau: E kc Kauka, since pure Hawaiians have more sickness than us part Hawaiians, does that mean that Hawaiians have bad genes and it is better for us to marry non-Hawaiians? Pane Mokuna (Part IV): In previous mokuna, we noted that our kupuna kahiko, who were of course piha Hawai'i (pure
Hawaiian), were remarkably hardy. In contrast, wepo'e Hawai'i today have the worst health profile in our homeland, and non- gene factors seem to be mainly responsible. Eia no na'e (nevertheless), we Native Hawaiians i keia wa (today) behave as if we have bad genes for we outmarry more than non-Hawaiians. Our modern matings are based more on Western concepts of romance and financial security than on prehaole Hawaiian values of psychological compatibility and desire to reproduce favorable traits in our offspring. Kela mahina aku nei (last month), we reviewed the current concept of genes as units of inheritance. These 100,000 or so submicroscopic entities in eaeh human eell determine the development and behavior of eaeh person, subject to external, non-gene influences such
as culture and environment. The genes are aligned like tiny beads of 23 pairs of rod-like chromosomes in eaeh and every eell in ke kino kanaka (the human body). Figure 1 shows what happens to three such pairs (of 23) chromosomes in a kanaka kane when he mates with a wahine, and how the gender of the keiki (child) is determined. Kane cells in the huakane (testis) divide into two types of sperm, one with an X chromosome, the other with a Y chromosome. While many (kane) sperm enter the (wahine) pu'ao (womb), usually only one sperm fertilizes only one huawahine (egg) for a given pregnancy. The sperm and the unfertilized huawahine have only half (haploid) the usual number of chromosomes. Two main types of impregnated hua ean result: one with two X chromosomes, whieh means the keiki will be wahine; the other with an X and a Y chromosome, whieh means the keiki will be kane. In either case, the total number of chromosomes is doubled (diploid) by the union of the sperm with the egg, whieh restores the normal number of chromosomes. The assortmenf of genes in eaeh of the keiki will also differ because some genes will eome from chromosomes of the makuahine's (mother's) egg, and some will eome from the makuakane's (father's) sperm. Thus, numerous combinations are possible. As the fertilized hua in eaeh case divides in succeeding generations, the resulting accumulation of cells in eaeh keiki's body will look and behave differently as the special organs are formed. This means that certain of the 100,000 or so genes in some of the cells in the child become active, while others will remain inactive, a topic we will discuss further in a future eolumn. While we Hawaiians as Polynesians look very differently from non-Polynesians, our chromosomes are the same in number and appearance under the microscope as in all humankind. However, our poo/ of thousands of genes on the 23 pairs of chromosomes in our kino varies distinctly, as indicated by study of red blood eell phenofypes, that is, the detectable expressions of genes. Such phenotypes are the biological basis for the classification of mankind into separate "races." For example, pure Hawaiians, like other pure Polynesians, do not have type B or type RH red blood cells, unlike whites, blacks
and Asians. The precise mechanisms whereby our gene pool results in our physical features, such as brown skin, broad nose, wavy hair, round eyes and large bones, and affects our disease patterns is not yet known. What is known is that our Hawaiianess is nof in our koko (blood) as such. This notion of "blood origin of race" is not originally Hawaiian nor Polynesian; it is European. So we should bear in mind that when we use the terms "koko Hawaiian" and "blood quantum," we are speaking only metaphorically, nof in a literal or biological sense. With this background, keia mahina a'e (next month) we will review the few studies whieh have attempted to link disorders in us ka po'e Hawai'i to our Polynesian pool of genes, and thus determine if any of these genes are "bad."
Figure 1. The makuakane eell has one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, whereas the makuahine eell has two X chromosomes. When the sperm fertilizes the egg, the resulting keiki gender depends on the type of sperm (X or Y) that unites with the egg.