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From: "Steven C. Perkins" <>
Subject: Puerto Rico mtDNA article abstract
Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:34:17 -0500

From the early review issue of American Journal of Physical Anthropology:

Reconstructing the Population History of Puerto Rico by
Means of mtDNA Phylogeographic Analysis
Juan C. Martý´nez-Cruzado,1* Gladys Toro-Labrador,1 Jorge Viera-Vera,1
Michelle Y. Rivera-Vega,1,2
Jennifer Startek,1 Magda Latorre-Esteves,1,3 Alicia Roma´ n-Colo´ n,1,4
Rebecca Rivera-Torres,1,5
Iris Y. Navarro-Milla´ n,1,2 Enid Go´mez-Sa´ nchez,1 He´ ctor Y.
Caro-Gonza´ lez,1,6 and
Patricia Valencia-Rivera1,7
1Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagu¨ ez, Mayagu¨
ez, Puerto Rico 00680
2Escuela de Medicina, Universidad Auto´noma de Guadalajara, Guadalajara,
Jalisco CP45110, Mexico
3Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
4Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
00936
5Department of Comparative Pathology, University of California at Davis,
Davis, California 95616
6Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford,
California 94305
7Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115

KEY WORDS mtDNA haplogroups; Taý´nos; principal component analysis

ABSTRACT

The haplogroup identities of 800 mtDNAs
randomly and systematically selected to be representative
of the population of Puerto Rico were determined by restriction
fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), revealing
maternal ancestries in this highly mixed population of
61.3% Amerindian, 27.2% sub-Saharan African, and
11.5% West Eurasian. West Eurasian frequencies were
low in all 28 municipalities sampled, and displayed no
geographic patterns. Thus, a statistically significant negative
correlation was observed between the Amerindian
and African frequencies of the municipalities. In addition,
a statistically highly significant geographic pattern was
observed for Amerindian and African mtDNAs. In a scenario
in which Amerindian mtDNAs prevailed on either
side of longitude 66°16 West, Amerindian mtDNAs were
more frequent west of longitude 66°16 West than east of
it, and the opposite was true for African mtDNAs. Haplogroup
A had the highest frequency among Amerindian
samples (52.4%), suggesting its predominance among the
native Taý´nos. Principal component analysis showed that
the sub-Saharan African fraction had a strong affinity to
West Africans. In addition, the magnitudes of the Senegambian
and Gulf of Guinea components in Puerto Rico
were between those of Cape Verde and Sa˜o Tome´. Furthermore,
the West Eurasian component did not conform
to European haplogroup frequencies. HVR-I sequences of
haplogroup U samples revealed a strong North African
influence among West Eurasian mtDNAs and a new sub-
Saharan African clade.

(c) 2005 Am J Phy. Anthro.

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