Afro-Derived Amazonian Populations: Inferring Continental Ancestry and Population Substructure

Authors

Luana Gomes Lopes Maciel, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, BrasilFollow
Elzemar Martins Ribeiro-Rodrigues, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil
Ney Pereira Cameiro dos Santos, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil
Ândrea K. C. Ribeiro dos Santos, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil
João Farias Guerreiro, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil
Sidney Emanuel Batista dos Santos, Laboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, BrasilFollow

Document Type

Open Access Preprint

Anticipated Volume

83

Anticipated Issue

5

Final Published Version

http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol83/iss5/8/

Abstract

A panel of Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) was used to identify population substructure and estimate individual and overall interethnic admixture in 294 individuals from seven African-derived communities of the Brazilian Amazon. A panel of 48 biallelic markers, representing the insertion (IN) or the deletion (DEL) of small DNA fragments, was employed for this purpose. Overall interethnic admixture estimates showed high miscegenation with other ethnic groups in all populations (between 46% and 64%). The proportion of ancestral genes varied significantly among individuals of the sample: the contribution of African genes varied between 12% and 75%; of European genes between 10% and 73%; and of Amerindians genes between 8% and 66%. The obtained data reveal a high contribution of Amerindian genes in these communities, unlike in other African-derived communities of the Northeast and the South of Brazil. In addition, the majority of the Amerindian contribution may result from the preferential inclusion of indigenous women in the African descent groups. High heterogeneity of the proportion of interethnic admixture among analyzed individuals was found when the proportion of ancestral genes of each individual of the sample was estimated. This heterogeneity is reflected in the fact that four populations can be considered as substructured and that the global African descent sample is possibly formed by two subpopulations.

Recommended Citation

Open access pre-print, subsequently published as Maciel, Luana Gomes Lopes; Ribeiro-Rodrigues, Elzemar Martins; dos Santos, Ney Pereira Cameiro; Ribeiro dos Santos, Ândrea K. C.; Guerreiro, João Farias; and dos Santos, Sidney Emanuel Batista (2011) "Afro-Derived Amazonian Populations: Inferring Continental Ancestry and Population Substructure," Human Biology: Vol. 83: Iss. 5, Article 8.