The genetics of East African populations : a Nilo-Saharan component in the African genetic landscape
Dobon, Begoña (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut)
Hassan, Hisham Y. (Bahrain Defence Force Hospital)
Laayouni, Hafid (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)
Luisi, Pierre (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut)
Ricaño-Ponce, Isis (University of Groningen. Department of Genetics)
Zhernakova, Alexandra (University of Groningen. Department of Genetics)
Wijmenga, Cisca (University of Groningen. Department of Genetics)
Tahir, Hanan (University of Medical Sciences and Technology)
Comas, D. (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut)
Netea, Mihai G. (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre)
Bertranpetit, Jaume (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut)

Date:	2015
Abstract:	East Africa is a strategic region to study human genetic diversity due to the presence of ethnically, linguistically, and geographically diverse populations. Here, we provide new insight into the genetic history of populations living in the Sudanese region of East Africa by analysing nine ethnic groups belonging to three African linguistic families: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic. A total of 500 individuals were genotyped for 200,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Principal component analysis, clustering analysis using ADMIXTURE, F statistics, and the three-population test were used to investigate the underlying genetic structure and ancestry of the different ethno-linguistic groups. Our analyses revealed a genetic component for Sudanese Nilo-Saharan speaking groups (Darfurians and part of Nuba populations) related to Nilotes of South Sudan, but not to other Sudanese populations or other sub-Saharan populations. Populations inhabiting the North of the region showed close genetic affinities with North Africa, with a component that could be remnant of North Africans before the migrations of Arabs from Arabia. In addition, we found very low genetic distances between populations in genes important for anti-malarial and anti-bacterial host defence, suggesting similar selective pressures on these genes and stressing the importance of considering functional pathways to understand the evolutionary history of populations.
Grants:	European Commission 310372 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2013-43726-P Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-866 Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU13/06813 European Commission 322698
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 5 (May 2015) , art. 9996, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/srep09996
PMID: 26017457

11 p, 826.4 KB

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