Population relationships in the Mediterranean revealed by autosomal genetic data (Alu and Alu/STR compound systems) |
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| Authors: | Emili González‐Pérez Esther Esteban Marc Via Magdalena Gayà‐Vidal Georgios Athanasiadis Jean Michel Dugoujon Francisco Luna Maria Soledad Mesa Vicente Fuster Mostafa Kandil Nourdin Harich Nisrine Bissar‐Tadmouri Angela Saetta Pedro Moral |
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| Institution: | 1. Secció d'Antropologia, Departament de Biologia Animal, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;2. Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA;3. Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA;4. Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie, CNRS‐Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France;5. Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain;6. Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université Choua?b Doukkali, El Jadida, Morocco;7. Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates;8. Department of Pathology, Medical School University of Athens, Athens, Greece |
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| Abstract: | The variation of 18 Alu polymorphisms and 3 linked STRs was determined in 1,831 individuals from 15 Mediterranean populations to analyze the relationships between human groups in this geographical region and provide a complementary perspective to information from studies based on uniparental markers. Patterns of population diversity revealed by the two kinds of markers examined were different from one another, likely in relation to their different mutation rates. Therefore, while the Alu biallelic variation underlies general heterogeneity throughout the whole Mediterranean region, the combined use of Alu and STR points to a considerable genetic differentiation between the two Mediterranean shores, presumably strengthened by a considerable sub‐Saharan African genetic contribution in North Africa (around 13% calculated from Alu markers). Gene flow analysis confirms the permeability of the Sahara to human passage along with the existence of trans‐Mediterranean interchanges. Two specific Alu/STR combinations—CD4 110(?) and DM 107(?)—detected in all North African samples, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, Turkey, and some Mediterranean islands suggest an ancient genetic background of current Mediterranean peoples. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | Berber genetic admixture haplotypes Sahara |
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