Niger-Congo speaking populations and the formation of the Brazilian gene pool: mtDNA and Y-chromosome data
✍ Scribed by Tábita Hünemeier; Cláudia Carvalho; Andrea Rita Marrero; Francisco Mauro Salzano; Sérgio Danilo Junho Pena; Maria Cátira Bortolini
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 341 KB
- Volume
- 133
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-9483
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
We analyzed sequence variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segment I (HVS‐I) from 201 Black individuals from two Brazilian cities (Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre), and compared these data with published information from 21 African populations. A subset of 187 males of the sample was also characterized for 30 Y‐chromosome biallelic polymorphisms, and the data were compared with those from 48 African populations. The mtDNA data indicated that respectively 69% and 82% of the matrilineages found in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre originated from West‐Central/Southeast Africa. These estimates are in close agreement with historical records which indicated that most of the Brazilian slaves who arrived in Rio de Janeiro were from West‐Central Africa. In contrast to mtDNA, Y‐chromosome haplogroup analysis did not allow discrimination between places of origin in West or West‐Central Africa. Thus, when comparing these two major African regions, there seems to be higher genetic structure with mtDNA than with Y‐chromosome data. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.