Patterns of genetic diversity in Colombia for 38 indels used in human identification.

The current population of Colombia has a genetic heterogeneity resulting from different migrations from other continents and within the country. In addition, there are small groups in their territory that have remained isolated and therefore have a different genetic pool in relation to that of the neighbouring urban populations. This population stratification must be considered in forensic analysis, being more complex for markers with marked intercontinental differentiation. In this study, population differentiation in Colombian admixed, native, and Afro-descendant populations was evaluated for a group of 38 indels described for forensic use. Allelic frequencies and parameters of forensic relevance were determined in each of the groups defined based on population differentiation analyses. In addition to the differences found between population groups, the results show that the set of 38 indels analysed could be useful in studies of individual identification in Colombia. The exclusion power presented by this set of markers suggests the need for joint use with other markers, being able to complement the STRs in paternity cases. High levels of both power of discrimination and exclusion were found when complementing the 38 HID-indels with a second multiplex, for a total of 83 indels.

Estimating Asian Contribution to the Brazilian Population: A New Application of a Validated Set of 61 Ancestry Informative Markers.

Estimates of different ancestral proportions in admixed populations are very important in population genetics studies, especially for the detection of population substructure effects in studies of case-control associations. Brazil is one of the most heterogeneous countries in the world, both from a socio-cultural and a genetic point of view. In this work, we investigated a previously developed set of 61 ancestry informative markers (AIM), aiming to estimate the proportions of four different ancestral groups (African, European, Native American and Asian) in Brazilian populations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use a set of AIM to investigate the genetic contribution of all four main parental populations to the Brazilian population, including Asian contribution. All selected markers were genotyped through multiplex PCR and capillary electrophoresis. The set was able to successfully differentiate the four ancestral populations (represented by 939 individuals) and identify their genetic contributions to the Brazilian population. In addition, it was used to estimate individual interethnic admixture of 1050 individuals from the Southeast region of Brazil and it showed that these individuals present a higher European ancestry contribution, followed by African, Asian and Native American ancestry contributions. Therefore, the 61 AIM set has proved to be a valuable tool to estimate individual and global ancestry proportions in populations mainly formed by these four groups. Our findings highlight the importance of using sets of AIM to evaluate population substructure in studies carried in admixed populations, in order to avoid misinterpretation of results.

Genetic Differentiation in a Sample from Northern Mexico City Detected by HLA System Analysis: Impact in the Study of Population Immunogenetics.

The major histocompatibility complex is directly involved in the immune response, and thus the genes coding for its proteins are useful markers for the study of genetic diversity, susceptibility to disease (autoimmunity and infections), transplant medicine, and pharmacogenetics, among others. The polymorphism of the system also allows researchers to use it as a proxy for population genetics analysis, such as genetic admixture and genetic structure. In order to determine the immunogenetic characteristics of a sample from the northern part of Mexico City and to use them to analyze the genetic differentiation from other admixed populations, including those from previous studies of Mexico City population, we analyzed molecular typing results of donors and patients from the Histocompatibility Laboratory of the Central Blood Bank of the Centro Médico Nacional La Raza selected according to their geographic origin. HLA-A, -B, -DRB1, and -DQB1 alleles were typed by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers. Allelic and haplotype frequencies, as well as population genetics parameters, were obtained by maximum likelihood methods. The most frequent haplotypes found were HLA-A*02/-B*39/-DRB1*04/-DQB1*03:02P, HLA-A*02/-B*35/-DRB1*04/-DQB1*03:02P, HLA-A*68/-B*39/-DRB1*04/-DQB1*03:02P, and HLA-A*02/-B*35/-DRB1*08/-DQB1*04. Importantly, the second most frequent haplotype found in our sample (HLA-A*02/-B*35/-DRB1*04/-DQB1*03:02P) has not been previously reported in any mixedancestry populations from Mexico but is commonly encountered in Native American human groups, which can reflect the impact of migration dynamics in the genetic conformation of the northern part of Mexico City, and the limitations of previous studies with regard to the genetic diversity of the analyzed groups. Differences found in haplotype frequencies demonstrated that large urban conglomerates cannot be analyzed as one homogeneous entity but, rather, should be understood as a set of structures in which social, political, and economical factors influence their genesis and dynamics.

Revealing latitudinal patterns of mitochondrial DNA diversity in Chileans.

The territory of Chile is particularly long and narrow, which combined with its mountainous terrain, makes it a unique scenario for human genetic studies. We obtained 995 control region mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from Chileans representing populations living at different latitudes of the country from the North to the southernmost region. The majority of the mtDNA profiles are of Native American origin (∼88%). The remaining haplotypes are mostly of recent European origin (∼11%), and only a minor proportion is of recent African ancestry (∼1%). While these proportions are relatively uniform across the country, more structured patterns of diversity emerge when examining the variation from a phylogeographic perspective. For instance, haplogroup A2 reaches ∼9% in the North, and its frequency decreases gradually to ∼1% in the southernmost populations, while the frequency of haplogroup D (sub-haplogroups D1 and D4) follows the opposite pattern: 36% in the southernmost region, gradually decreasing to 21% in the North. Furthermore, there are remarkable signatures of founder effects in specific sub-clades of Native American (e.g. haplogroups D1j and D4p) and European (e.g. haplogroups T2b3 and K1a4a1a+195) ancestry. We conclude that the magnitude of the latitudinal differences observed in the patterns of mtDNA variation might be relevant in forensic casework.

The multiethnic ancestry of Bolivians as revealed by the analysis of Y-chromosome markers.

We have analyzed the specific male genetic component of 226 Bolivians recruited in five different regions ("departments"), La Paz, Cochabamba, Pando, Beni, and Santa Cruz. To evaluate the effect of geography on the distribution of genetic variability, the samples were also grouped into three main eco-geographical regions, namely, Andean, Sub-Andean, and Llanos. All the individuals were genotyped for 17 Y-STR and 32 Y-SNP markers. The average Y-chromosome Native American component in Bolivians is 28%, and it is mainly represented by haplogroup Q1a3a, while the average Y-chromosome European ancestry is 65%, and it is mainly represented by haplogroup R1b1-P25. The data indicate that there exists significant population sub-division in the country in terms of continental ancestry. Thus, the partition of ancestries in Llanos, Sub-Andean, and Andean regions is as follows (respectively): (i) Native American ancestry: 47%, 7%, and 19%, (ii) European ancestry: 46%, 86%, and 75%, and (iii) African ancestry: 7%, 7%, and 6%. The population sub-structure in the country is also well mirrored when inferred from an AMOVA analysis, indicating that among-population variance in the country reaches 9.74-11.15%. This suggests the convenience of using regional datasets for forensic applications in Bolivia, instead of using a global and single country database. By comparing the Y-chromosome patterns with those previously reported on the same individuals on autosomal SNPs and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), it becomes clear that Bolivians show a strong gender-bias.

SNP variation with latitude: Analysis of the SNPforID 52-plex markers in north, mid-region and south Chilean populations.

Chile is a disproportionately long and narrow country defined by the southern Andes and Pacific coastline where a level of genetic sub-structure resulting from distances of several thousand kilometers might be expected across the most distantly separated regions. Although STR databases created for the Chilean Legal Medical Service indicate an absence of sub-structure, such a characteristic requires further exploration when introducing additional forensic markers. Notably, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) have a much lower mutation rate than STRs and can show more stable distributions of genetic variation if population movement is restricted. In this study we evaluated 451 Chilean urban samples from the North, North-Central, Central, South-Central and South regions of Chile for the 52 SNPs of the SNPforID forensic identification panel to explore the underlying genetic structure of Chilean populations. Results reveal similar genetic distances between groups suggesting a single SNP database for the whole of Chile is appropriate. To further understand the genetic composition of Chilean populations that comprise the bulk of individuals with both European and Native American ancestries, ancestral membership proportions were evaluated and pairwise comparisons to other American populations were made.

Análisis de la estructura genética en una muestra poblacional de Bucaramanga, departamento de Santander / An assessment of genetic structure in a Bucaramanga, department of Santander, population sample

Introducción: El fenómeno de sub-estructura en las poblaciones ha tenido desde hace varios años un abordaje amplio, que se enfocó, entre otros, en la identificación y cuantificación de la mezcla étnica presente en estudios de mapeo asociativo, para comprobar la asociación de marcadores polimórficos en el desarrollo de enfermedades comunes complejas, como responsable de falsos positivos. No obstante el reconocimiento de este problema, no se tiene suficiente información genética en el contexto nacional ni local que permita determinar la posible diferenciación de subgrupos poblacionales en cada región en particular. Objetivo: Determinar la estructura genética en una muestra poblacional de la ciudad de Bucaramanga, a partir del análisis de 19 marcadores microsatélites autosómicos en distintos subgrupos poblacionales. Metodología: De la base de datos del Laboratorio de Genética Humana de la Universidad Industrial de Santander, se seleccionaron aleatoriamente 350 muestras de ADN, y se amplificaron 19 marcadores autosómicos Short Tandem Repeat mediante los "kits Powerplex® 16 y FFFL (Promega)".Resultados: En el análisis de equilibrio Hardy Weinberg, no se obtuvieron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en 18 de 19 marcadores Short Tandem Repeat autosómicos analizados en la población de Bucaramanga. El único marcador que mostró no estar en equilibrio Hardy Weinberg en la población de Bucaramanga fue el F13B (valor de significancia de p=0.00264, después de aplicar la corrección de Bonferroni). Discusión: Las poblaciones representadas en los seis estratos socioeconómicos mostraron alta diversidad genética intragrupos, que ratificó una alta variabilidad entre los individuos de la ciudad de Bucaramanga, acorde con el bajo valor de FST entre distintos grupos, determinado en el análisis molecular de varianza con base en frecuencias alélicas observadas para los 19 Short Tandem Repeat analizados.

Introduction: The phenomenon of substructure in the populations has been greatly analyzed for several years, and it has been focused especially on the identification and quantification of ethnic mixture present in studies of associative mapping to verify the association of polymorphic markers in the development of complex and common diseases responsible for false positives. Nevertheless, despite the recognition of this issue, there is insufficient genetic information within the national or local contexts that allow assessing the possible differentiation of population sub-groups in each particular region. Objective: To determine the genetic structure in the city of Bucaramanga through the analysis of 19 autosomal microsatellite markers in different subgroups of the population. Methodology: A total of 350 DNA samples were randomly selected from the database of the Human Genetic Laboratory at Universidad Industrial de Santander by using Epi Info version 6.04 2001. Also, 19 Short Tandem Repeat markers were amplified using "kits Powerplex® 16 and FFFL (Promega)". Results: In the Hardy Weinberg equilibrium analysis (100 steps in Markov chain and 1000 dememorization steps), no statistically significant differences in 18 out of the 19 analyzed STRs markers in the population of Bucaramanga were obtained. A unique marker that proved not present in HWE in the population of Bucaramanga was the F13B (for a significance value of p=0.00264, after applying the Bonferroni correction). Discussion: The populations represented in the six socioeconomic levels presented high genetic diversity intragroups, which ratified the high variability among the individuals in this city according to the low value of FST for different groups, determined via the molecular analysis of variance based on the allelic frequencies observed for the 19 analyzed Short Tandem Repeats.