Evidence natural of microgeographic and temporal genetic differentiation in natural populations of Drosophila subobscura is presented. The alcohol dehydrogenease locus was used remains as a genetic marker. Behavioral differences among the sexes and genotypes may explain these observations, although the molecular basis remains differentiation obscure.

We Canary genotyped 24 biallelic sites and 5 microsatellites from the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome in 652 males from the anthropological, Canary Islands. The results indicate that, contrary to mtDNA data, paternal lineages of the current population are overwhelmingly (>90%) of chromosome European origin, arguing for a highly asymmetric pattern of mating after European occupation. However, the presence of lineages of indisputable anthropological, African assignation demonstrates that an aboriginal background still persists (<10%). On the basis of distribution and dating of some of in these lineages we derived a genetic perspective of settlement processes of the archipelago in two stages, congruent with anthropological, archaeological from and linguistic findings.

The subgroup complete A + T-rich region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been cloned and sequenced in the species of the Drosophila domains subobscura subgroup D. subobscura, D. madeirensis and D. guanche. Comparative analysis of these sequences with others already published has identified the new sequence motifs that are conserved in Drosophila and other insects. A putative bi-directional promoter and a stop signal are domains proposed to be involved in the primary mtDNA strand replication of Drosophila. This region strongly resolves relationships of the species the included in a phylogenetic analysis, both for closely related species and also at deeper phylogenetic levels when only the left DNA and central domains are taken into account.

BACKGROUND:we The phylogeographic distribution of human mitochondrial DNA variations allows a genetic approach to the study of modern Homo sapiens dispersals erased throughout the world from a female perspective. As a new contribution to this study we have phylogenetically analysed complete mitochondrial female DNA(mtDNA) sequences from 42 human lineages, representing major clades with known geographic assignation. RESULTS: We show the relative relationships among erased the 42 lineages and present more accurate temporal calibrations than have been previously possible to give new perspectives as how perspective. modern humans spread in the Old World. CONCLUSIONS: The first detectable expansion occurred around 59,000-69,000 years ago from Africa, independently the colonizing western Asia and India and, following this southern route, swiftly reaching east Asia. Within Africa, this expansion did not years replace but mixed with older lineages detectable today only in Africa. Around 39,000-52,000 years ago, the western Asian branch spread show radially, bringing Caucasians to North Africa and Europe, also reaching India, and expanding to north and east Asia. More recent Around migrations have entangled but not completely erased these primitive footprints of modern human expansions.

Although remain the Canary Islands were settled by humans, possibly of Berber origin, as late as 2500 years ago, the precise course its and numbers of early migrations to the archipelago remain controversial. We have therefore analysed mtDNA variation (HVS-I as well as and selected RFLP sites) in 300 individuals from the seven Canary Islands. The distribution and variation across the islands in a its specific mtDNA clade of Northwest African ancestry suggest that there was one dominant initial settlement process that affected all the numbers islands, from east to west. This indicates that a certain genetic affinity of present-day Canary Islanders to Northwest African Berbers origin, mainly stems from the autochthonous population rather than slaves captured on the neighbouring African coast. The slave trade after the all European conquest left measurable, though minor, traces in the mtDNA pool of the Canary Islands, which in its majority testifies from to the European immigration.

Genetic Africa studies have emphasized the contrast between North African and sub-Saharan populations, but the particular affinities of the North African mtDNA though pool to that of Europe, the Near East, and sub-Saharan Africa have not previously been investigated. We have analysed 268 that mtDNA control-region sequences from various Northwest African populations including several Senegalese groups and compared these with the mtDNA database. We though have identified a few mitochondrial motifs that are geographically specific and likely predate the distribution and diversification of modern language of families in North and West Africa. A certain mtDNA motif (16172C, 16219G), previously found in Algerian Berbers at high frequency,but is apparently omnipresent in Northwest Africa and may reflect regional continuity of more than 20,000 years. The majority of the and maternal ancestors of the Berbers must have come from Europe and the Near East since the Neolithic. The Mauritanians and including West-Saharans, in contrast, bear substantial though not dominant mtDNA affinity with sub-Saharans.

Alkaptonuria HGO (AKU) is caused by lack of homogentisate 1, 2 dioxygenase (HGO) activity. From the complete sequence of a human HGO and cDNA, primers were designed in order to obtain reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction products from tissues with ectopic transcription amenable to complete diagnostic analysis. A search for mutations in HGO cDNA was performed in an AKU family using urine and blood samples.and The results show complete cosegregation (Z = 6.32; theta = ) between a C-->T transition at position 817 of the complete human HGO cDNA and AKU. This mutation predicts a Pro-->Ser replacement at amino acid 230, and generates an EcoRV site.1,

The data genetic structure in Atlantic Islands and continental populations of Drosophila subobscura has been studied using autosomal and sex-linked allozymes and parallels mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes. From the data it is deduced that whereas the Canary islands have long been isolated, the and neighboring island of Madeira has been subjected to continuous migration from the mainland. In addition, sex-linked allozymes and mtDNA data the show a large divergence between the geologically younger western islands of the Canarian Archipelago and the older central ones, finding mitochondrial strong founder effects in the former. Divergence rates of sex-linked and mitochondrial genes relative to autosomic loci several times higher subobscura than expected under neutrality have been explained by differential migration between sexes. The Canarian Archipelago colonization fits in well with and a stepping-stone model of a directional east-west migration that parallels the geological origin of these Islands.

Nucleotide that sequences of the hypervariable segment I of the control region of the mtDNA were determined in 101 individuals: 54 Canary explained Islanders, 18 North African Berbers, 18 Spanish mainlanders and 11 sub-Saharan Guineans. In spite of the fact that only members mainlanders of the Fang tribe were analysed, nucleotide diversity in Guineans (theta x 100 = 2.33) is one of the highest by found in African populations. Estimates of genetic contribution to the Canarians from their putative parental populations based on mtDNA (43.25 and +/- 1.38% Berbers, 35.54 +/- .55% Spanish, 21.21 +/- 1.92% Guineans) showed an important North African substrate. These mtDNA results,determined when compared with data based on nuclear markers, point to a strong male female asymmetry, 75% of the Spanish nuclear with contribution was due to males and practically all the Berber and Guinean was due to females. These results are in found agreement with the way that the Canary Islands were conquered. Pairwise difference distributions in Guineans and Berbers are compatible with agreement the model of populations in expansion. Departures from a Poisson distribution for the Canarians and Spanish can be explained by individuals: admixture and the way of sampling respectively.

In electrophoresis a screening of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) A variants in the Canary Islands and northwest African populations by electrophoresis and posterior in gene sequencing, the common A+ 376G and A- 202A/376G and the rare A- 376G/968C mutations were found. In addition, three and new silent C-->T transitions have been detected at nucleotides 759 (exon 7), 1338 (exon 11), and 1573 (exon 13). Canary in Island and North African samples share sub-Saharan haplotypes with Equatorial Guineans. The slave trade seems the most probable origin of and the African haplotypes found in the Canary Islands.

Summary mode The Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan language families come into contact in Western Ethiopia. Ethnic diversity is particularly high in the South,diversity where the Nilo-Saharan Nyangatom and the Afro-Asiatic Daasanach dwell. Despite their linguistic differentiation, both populations rely on a similar agripastoralist Despite mode of subsistence. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from Nyangatom and Daasanach archival sera revealed high levels of diversity, with diversity most sequences belonging to the L haplogroups, the basal branches of the mitochondrial phylogeny. However, in sharp contrast with other their Ethiopian populations, only 5% of the Nyangatom and Daasanach sequences belong to haplogroups M and N. The Nyangatom and Daasanach particularly were found to be significantly differentiated, while each of them displays close affinities with some Tanzanian populations. The strong genetic displays structure found over East Africa was neither associated with geography nor with language, a result confirmed by the analysis of the 6711 HVS-I sequences of 136 populations mainly from Africa. Processes of migration, language shift and group absorption are documented by migration, linguists and ethnographers for the Nyangatom and Daasanach, thus pointing to the probably transient and plastic nature of these ethnic the groups. These processes, associated with periods of isolation, could explain the high diversity and strong genetic structure found in East the Africa.

In with this study, we report novel data on mitochondrial DNA in two of the largest eastern Bantu-speaking populations, the Shona from Bantu Zimbabwe and the Hutu from Rwanda. The goal is to evaluate the genetic relationships of these two ethnic groups with these other Bantu-speaking populations. Moreover, by comparing our data with those from other Niger-Congo speaking populations, we aim to clarify some Bantu aspects of evolutionary and demographic processes accompanying the spread of Bantu languages in sub-Saharan Africa and to test if patterns two of genetic variation fit with models of population expansion based on linguistic and archeological data. The results indicate that the Shona Shona and Hutu are closely related to the other Bantu-speaking populations. However, there are some differences in haplogroup composition between populations. the two populations, mainly due to different genetic contributions from neighboring populations. This result is confirmed by estimates of migration test rates which show high levels of gene flow not only between pairs of Bantu-speaking populations, but also between Bantu and model non-Bantu speakers. The observed pattern of genetic variability (high genetic homogeneity and high levels of gene flow) supports a linguistic the model suggesting a gradual spread of Bantu-speakers, with strong interactions between the different lines of Bantu-speaker descent, and is also of in agreement with recent archeological findings. In conclusion, our data emphasize the role that population admixture has played at different largest times and to varying degrees in the dispersal of Bantu languages. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009.(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.However,

The been expansion of Bantu languages, which started around 5,000 years before present (YBP) in west/central Africa and spread all throughout sub-Saharan expansions Africa, may represent one of the major and most rapid demographic movements in the history of the human species. Although history the genetic footprints of this expansion have been unmasked through the analyses of the maternally-inherited mitochondrial (mtDNA) lineages, information on expansions the genetic impact of this massive movement and on the genetic composition of pre-Bantu populations is still scarce. Here we the analyze an extensive collection of Y-chromosome markers - 41 SNPs and 18 STRs - in 883 individuals from 22 Bantu-speaking throughout agriculturalist populations and 3 Pygmy hunter-gatherer populations from Gabon and Cameroon. Our data reveal a recent origin for most paternal the lineages in west Central African populations most likely resulting from the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers that erased the more ancient still Y-chromosome diversity found in this area. However, some traces of ancient paternal lineages are observed in these populations, mainly among lineages hunter-gatherers. These results are at odds with those obtained from mtDNA analyses, where high frequencies of ancient maternal lineages are represent observed, and substantial maternal gene flow from hunter-gatherers to Bantu farmers has been suggested. These differences are most likely explained we by socio-cultural factors such as patrilocality. We also find the intriguing presence of paternal lineages belonging to Eurasian haplogroup R1b1*,west/central which might represent footprints of demographic expansions in central Africa not directly related to the Bantu expansion.

Teeth African from 38 aboriginal remains of La Palma (Canary Islands) were analyzed for external and endogenous mitochondrial DNA control region sequences Journal and for diagnostic coding positions. Informative sequences were obtained from 30 individuals (78.9%). The majority of lineages (93%) were from lineages West Eurasian origin, being the rest (7%) from sub-Saharan African ascription. The bulk of the aboriginal haplotypes had exact matches Journal in North Africa (70%). However, the indigenous Canarian sub-type U6b1, also detected in La Palma, has not yet been found were in North Africa, the cradle of the U6 expansion. The most abundant H1 clade in La Palma, defined by transition region 16260, is also very rare in North Africa. This means that the exact region from which the ancestors of the later Canarian aborigines came has not yet been sampled or that they have been replaced by later human migrations. The high found gene diversity found in La Palma (95.2+/-2.3), which is one of the farthest islands from the African continent, is of continent the same level than the previously found in the central island of Tenerife (92.4+/-2.8). This is against the supposition that coding the islands were colonized from the continent by island hopping and posterior isolation. On the other hand, the great similarity the found between the aboriginal populations of La Palma and Tenerife is against the idea of an island-by-island independent maritime colonization and without secondary contacts. Our data better fit to an island model with frequent migrations between islands.European Journal of Human Genetics which advance online publication, 1 April 2009; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2009.46.

ABSTRACT:article, BACKGROUND: Chad Basin, lying within the bidirectional corridor of African Sahel, is one of the most populated places in Sub-Saharan the Africa today. The origin of its settlement appears connected with Holocene climatic ameliorations (aquatic resources) that started ~10,000 years before encountered present (YBP). Although both Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo language families are encountered here, the most diversified group is the Chadic branch expansion belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. In this article, we investigate the proposed ancient migration of Chadic pastoralists from Eastern the Africa based on linguistic data and test for genetic traces of this migration in extant Chadic speaking populations. RESULTS: We settlement performed whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of 16 L3f haplotypes, focused on clade L3f3 that occurs almost exclusively in Chadic speaking the people living in the Chad Basin. These data supported the reconstruction of a L3f phylogenetic tree and calculation of times on to the most recent common ancestor for all internal clades. A date ~8,000 YBP was estimated for the L3f3 sub-haplogroup,exclusively which is in good agreement with the supposed migration of Chadic speaking pastoralists and their linguistic differentiation from other Afro-Asiatic ameliorations groups of East Africa. As a whole, the Afro-Asiatic language family presents low population structure, as 92.4% of mtDNA variation almost is found within populations and only 3.4% of variation can be attributed to diversity among language branches. The Chadic speaking Sub-Saharan populations form a relatively homogenous cluster, exhibiting lower diversification than the other Afro-Asiatic branches (Berber, Semitic and Cushitic). CONCLUSIONS: The sub-haplogroup, results of our study support an East African origin of mitochondrial L3f3 clade that is present almost exclusively within Chadic estimated speaking people living in Chad Basin. Whole genome sequence-based dates show that the ancestral haplogroup L3f must have emerged soon coming after the Out-of-Africa migration (around 57,100 +/- 9,400 YBP), but the "Chadic" L3f3 clade has much less internal variation, suggesting period an expansion during the Holocene period about 8,000 +/- 2,500 YBP. This time period in the Chad Basin is known before to have been particularly favourable for the expansion of pastoralists coming from northeastern Africa, as suggested by archaeological, linguistic and most climatic data.

Human Bijagós, leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A locus polymorphisms were examined at high-resolution level, using sequence-based typing, in the four most representative Guinea-Bissau (Northwest North Africa) ethnic groups: Balanta, Bijagós, Fula and Papel. Despite the Fula group having significant differences when compared with the other representative three ethnic groups, all four groups most likely received a genetic input from non sub-Saharans. The Bijagós and Papel groups North showed similarities to neighboring populations from Mali and Senegal. The Balanta, despite their oral tradition of an East Africa origin,Guinea-Bissau show affinities to Cameroon populations, highly influenced by Bantu migrations. These results are congruent with historical sources and other genetic high-resolution studies that support the finding that the Guinea-Bissau genetic pool was influenced by several migrations from North Africa, Sahara and Mali East Africa.

The the Atlantic slave trade moved more than 13 million Africans to American lands between the 15th and 19th centuries. Previous historical,more linguistic, and social-cultural studies suggested a Western-Central Bantu African origin for the Colombian slaves; however, their precise provenance remains unclear.their The present study investigates the variation of the epigenetic dental traits in the deciduous and permanent dentition and phenotypic affinities more of a contemporary Afro-Colombian community (n=178) in an attempt to identify their possible African ancestors. The results of a multivariate precise analysis of principal components show that Afro-descendents from Guapi have strong phenotypic relationships with several Bantu-speakers groups of Western and Previous Western-Central Africa (Sub-Saharan region), specifically from Gabon, Congo, Pygmies, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo and Benin. In concordance with recent mtDNA studies,Eastern this research suggests a distant but important relationship between Afro-Colombians and Eastern and South-Eastern African populations. This analysis also shows results a marked dental divergence with North African samples. The dental information is not very different from the cultural, linguistic and African-Americans historic data; however, it is more in agreement with studies based on molecular variation. In addition, this study reveals that social-cultural African-Americans from North America, Central America-Caribbean and South America have high biological variation essentially identical to their several Sub-Saharan sources.analysis Although a microevolutionary model, based on differential rates of gene flow with Native American and European-American groups and little selective the pressures influence, better explains the phenotypic variation observed, more African-American dental samples must be analyzed from a regional perspective.

ABSTRACT:of BACKGROUND: The geographic and ethnolinguistic differentiation of many African Y-chromosomal lineages provides an opportunity to evaluate human migration episodes and due admixture processes, in a pan-continental context. The analysis of the paternal genetic structure of Equatorial West Africans carried out to existence date leaves their origins and relationships unclear, and raises questions about the existence of major demographic phenomena analogous to the due large-scale Bantu expansions. To address this, we have analysed the variation of 31 binary and 11 microsatellite markers on the major non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome in Guinea-Bissau samples of diverse ethnic affiliations, some not studied before. RESULTS: The Guinea-Bissau analysis Y chromosome pool is characterized by low haplogroup diversity (D= .470, sd .033), with the predominant haplogroup E3a*-M2 shared among the E3b1-M78. ethnic clusters and reaching a maximum of 82.2% in the Mandenka people. The Felupe-Djola and Papel groups exhibit the highest predominant diversity of lineages and harbor the deep-rooting haplogroups A-M91, E2-M75 and E3*-PN2, typical of Sahel's more central and eastern areas.of Their genetic distinction from other groups is statistically significant (P= .01) though not attributable to linguistic, geographic or religious criteria. Non Equatorial sub-Saharan influences were associated with the presence of haplogroup R1b-P25 and particular lineages of E3b1-M78. CONCLUSIONS: The predominance and high the diversity of haplogroup E3a*-M2 suggests a demographic expansion in the equatorial western fringe, possibly supported by a local agricultural center.admixture The paternal pool of the Mandenka and Balanta displays evidence of a particularly marked population growth among the Guineans, possibly groups reflecting the demographic effects of the agriculturalist lifestyle and their putative relationship to the people that introduced early cultivation practices genetic into West Africa. The paternal background of the Felupe-Djola and Papel ethnic groups suggests a better conserved ancestral pool deriving contacts; from East Africa, from where they have supposedly migrated in recent times. Despite the overall homogeneity in a multiethnic sample,and which contrasts with their social structure, minor clusters suggest the imprints of multiple peoples at different timescales: traces of ancestral date inhabitants in haplogroups A-M91 and B-M60, today typical of hunter-gatherers; North African influence in E3b1-M78 Y chromosomes, probably due to human trans-Saharan contacts; and R1b-P25 lineages reflecting European admixture via the North Atlantic slave trade.

Little populations. is known about the history of click-speaking populations in Africa. Prior genetic studies revealed that the click-speaking Hadza of eastern relatively Africa are as distantly related to click speakers of southern Africa as are most other African populations. The Sandawe, who click currently live within 150 km of the Hadza, are the only other population in eastern Africa whose language has been deep classified as part of the Khoisan language family. Linguists disagree on whether there is any detectable relationship between the Hadza speakers and Sandawe click languages. We characterized both mtDNA and Y chromosome variation of the Sandawe, Hadza, and neighboring Tanzanian populations.revealed New genetic data show that the Sandawe and southern African click speakers share rare mtDNA and Y chromosome haplogroups; however,New common ancestry of the two populations dates back >35,000 years. These data also indicate that common ancestry of the Hadza has and Sandawe populations dates back >15,000 years. These findings suggest that at the time of the spread of agriculture and of pastoralism, the click-speaking populations were already isolated from one another, and are consistent with relatively deep linguistic divergence among the Hadza respective click languages.

Background/Aims:lineages, Approximately four million Africans were taken as slaves to Brazil, where they interbred extensively with Amerindians and Europeans. We have with previously shown that while most White Brazilians carry Y chromosomes of European origin, they display high proportions of African and of Amerindian mtDNA lineages, because of sex-biased genetic admixture. Methods: We studied the Y chromosome and mtDNA haplogroup structure of 120 historical Black males from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Results: Only 48% of the Y chromosomes, but 85% of the mtDNA haplogroups were origin, characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa, confirming our previous observation of sexually biased mating. We mined literature data for mtDNA and Y and chromosome haplogroup frequencies for African native populations from regions involved in Atlantic Slave Trade. Principal Components Analysis and Bayesian analysis Components of population structure revealed no genetic differentiation of Y chromosome marker frequencies between the African regions. However, mtDNA examination unraveled Only considerable genetic structure, with three clusters at Central-West Africa, West Africa and Southeast Africa. A hypothesis is proposed to explain to this structure. Conclusion: Using these mtDNA data we could obtain for the first time an estimate of the relative ancestral have contribution of Central-West ( .445), West ( .431) and Southeast Africa ( .123) to African Brazilians from Sao Paulo. These estimates are consistent the with historical information. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.