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. 2014 Jul 24;10(7):e1004488.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004488. eCollection 2014 Jul.

Cuba: exploring the history of admixture and the genetic basis of pigmentation using autosomal and uniparental markers

Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel  1 , Esteban J Parra  2 , Evelyn Fuentes-Smith  1 , Antonio Salas  3 , Henriette N Buttenschøn  4 , Ditte Demontis  5 , María Torres-Español  6 , Lilia C Marín-Padrón  1 , Enrique J Gómez-Cabezas  7 , Vanesa Alvarez-Iglesias  3 , Ana Mosquera-Miguel  3 , Antonio Martínez-Fuentes  8 , Angel Carracedo  9 , Anders D Børglum  10 , Ole Mors  11
Affiliations

Cuba: exploring the history of admixture and the genetic basis of pigmentation using autosomal and uniparental markers

Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel et al. PLoS Genet. .

Abstract

We carried out an admixture analysis of a sample comprising 1,019 individuals from all the provinces of Cuba. We used a panel of 128 autosomal Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) to estimate the admixture proportions. We also characterized a number of haplogroup diagnostic markers in the mtDNA and Y-chromosome in order to evaluate admixture using uniparental markers. Finally, we analyzed the association of 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with quantitative estimates of skin pigmentation. In the total sample, the average European, African and Native American contributions as estimated from autosomal AIMs were 72%, 20% and 8%, respectively. The Eastern provinces of Cuba showed relatively higher African and Native American contributions than the Western provinces. In particular, the highest proportion of African ancestry was observed in the provinces of Guantánamo (40%) and Santiago de Cuba (39%), and the highest proportion of Native American ancestry in Granma (15%), Holguín (12%) and Las Tunas (12%). We found evidence of substantial population stratification in the current Cuban population, emphasizing the need to control for the effects of population stratification in association studies including individuals from Cuba. The results of the analyses of uniparental markers were concordant with those observed in the autosomes. These geographic patterns in admixture proportions are fully consistent with historical and archaeological information. Additionally, we identified a sex-biased pattern in the process of gene flow, with a substantially higher European contribution from the paternal side, and higher Native American and African contributions from the maternal side. This sex-biased contribution was particularly evident for Native American ancestry. Finally, we observed that SNPs located in the genes SLC24A5 and SLC45A2 are strongly associated with melanin levels in the sample.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Distribution of ancestral contributions in the total sample and stratified by province as inferred from autosomal AIMs.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Distribution of melanin index stratified by census categories.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Distribution of individual ancestry proportions stratified by census categories.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Distribution of melanin index by province.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Distribution of ancestral contributions in the total sample and stratified by province as inferred from mtDNA markers.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Distribution of ancestral contributions in the total sample and stratified by province as inferred from Y-chromosome markers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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