TY - JOUR
T1 - Reconstructing the population history of Nicaragua by means of mtDNA, Y-chromosome STRs, and autosomal STR markers
AU - Nuñez, Carolina
AU - Baeta, Miriam
AU - Sosa, Cecilia
AU - Casalod, Yolanda
AU - Ge, Jianye
AU - Budowle, Bruce
AU - Martínez-Jarreta, Begoña
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Nicaragua, diverse Native American groups inhabited the territory. In colonial times, Native Nicaraguan populations interacted with Europeans and slaves from Africa. To ascertain the extent of this genetic admixture and provide genetic evidence about the origin of the Nicaraguan ancestors, we analyzed the mitochondrial control region (HVSI and HVSII), 17 Y chromosome STRs, and 15 autosomal STRs in 165 Mestizo individuals from Nicaragua. To carry out interpopulation comparisons, HVSI sequences from 29 American populations were compiled from the literature. The results reveal a close relationship between Oto-manguean, Uto-Aztecan, Mayan groups from Mexico, and a Chibchan group to Nicaraguan lineages. The Native American contribution to present-day Nicaraguan Mestizos accounts for most of the maternal lineages, whereas the majority of Nicaraguan Y chromosome haplogroups can be traced back to a West Eurasian origin. Pairwise Fst distances based on Y-STRs between Nicaragua and European, African and Native American populations show that Nicaragua is much closer to Europeans than the other populations. Additionally, admixture proportions based on autosomal STRs indicate a predominantly Spanish contribution. Our study reveals that the Nicaraguan Mestizo population harbors a high proportion of European male and Native American female substrate. Finally, the amount of African ancestry is also interesting, probably because of the contribution of Spanish conquerors with NorthAfrican genetic traces or that of West African slaves.
AB - Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Nicaragua, diverse Native American groups inhabited the territory. In colonial times, Native Nicaraguan populations interacted with Europeans and slaves from Africa. To ascertain the extent of this genetic admixture and provide genetic evidence about the origin of the Nicaraguan ancestors, we analyzed the mitochondrial control region (HVSI and HVSII), 17 Y chromosome STRs, and 15 autosomal STRs in 165 Mestizo individuals from Nicaragua. To carry out interpopulation comparisons, HVSI sequences from 29 American populations were compiled from the literature. The results reveal a close relationship between Oto-manguean, Uto-Aztecan, Mayan groups from Mexico, and a Chibchan group to Nicaraguan lineages. The Native American contribution to present-day Nicaraguan Mestizos accounts for most of the maternal lineages, whereas the majority of Nicaraguan Y chromosome haplogroups can be traced back to a West Eurasian origin. Pairwise Fst distances based on Y-STRs between Nicaragua and European, African and Native American populations show that Nicaragua is much closer to Europeans than the other populations. Additionally, admixture proportions based on autosomal STRs indicate a predominantly Spanish contribution. Our study reveals that the Nicaraguan Mestizo population harbors a high proportion of European male and Native American female substrate. Finally, the amount of African ancestry is also interesting, probably because of the contribution of Spanish conquerors with NorthAfrican genetic traces or that of West African slaves.
KW - Central America
KW - Mestizos
KW - Native Americans
KW - genetic admixture
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649662169&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ajpa.21355
DO - 10.1002/ajpa.21355
M3 - Article
C2 - 20721944
AN - SCOPUS:78649662169
SN - 0002-9483
VL - 143
SP - 591
EP - 600
JO - American Journal of Physical Anthropology
JF - American Journal of Physical Anthropology
IS - 4
ER -