This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kayser, M. Articles by Stoneking, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kayser, M. Articles by Stoneking, M. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

LETTER

Y Chromosome STR Haplotypes and the Genetic Structure of U.S. Populations of African, European, and Hispanic Ancestry

¹Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany;² Department of Forensic Biology, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York, New York 10016, USA; ³Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Computation and Visualization Centre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA;⁴ Division of Geographic Medicine, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4983, USA; ⁵Onchocerciasis Control Programme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

To investigate geographic structure within U.S. ethnic populations, we analyzed 1705 haplotypes on the basis of 9 short tandem repeat (STR) loci on the Y-chromosome from 9–11 groups each of African-Americans, European-Americans, and Hispanics. There were no significant differences in the distribution of Y-STR haplotypes among African-American groups, whereas European-American and Hispanic groups did exhibit significant geographic heterogeneity. However, the significant heterogeneity resulted from one sample; removal of that sample in each case eliminated the significant heterogeneity. Multidimensional scaling analysis of R_ST values indicated that African-American groups formed a distinct cluster, whereas there was some intermingling of European-American and Hispanic groups. MtDNA data exist for many of these same groups; estimates of the European-American genetic contribution to the African-American gene pool were 27.5%–33.6% for the Y-STR haplotypes and 9%–15.4% for the mtDNA types. The lack of significant geographic heterogeneity among Y-STR and mtDNA haplotypes in U.S ethnic groups means that forensic DNA databases do not need to be constructed for separate geographic regions of the U.S. Moreover, absence of significant geographic heterogeneity for these two loci means that regional variation in disease susceptibility within ethnic groups is more likely to reflect cultural/environmental factors, rather than any underlying genetic heterogeneity.

E-MAIL kayser{at}eva.mpg.de; FAX 49-341-9952555.

Article and publication are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.463003.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. S. Elkins, S. C. Johnston, E. Ziv, D. Kado, J. A. Cauley, and K. Yaffe Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase C677T Polymorphism and Cognitive Function in Older Women Am. J. Epidemiol., September 15, 2007; 166(6): 672 - 678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Serre and S. Paabo Evidence for Gradients of Human Genetic Diversity Within and Among Continents Genome Res., September 1, 2004; 14(9): 1679 - 1685. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. J. Fullerton, J. S. Elkins, and S. C. Johnston Pediatric Stroke Belt: Geographic Variation in Stroke Mortality in US Children Stroke, July 1, 2004; 35(7): 1570 - 1573. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. L. Jackson Human genetic variation and health: new assessment approaches based on ethnogenetic layering Br. Med. Bull., June 1, 2004; 69(1): 215 - 235. [Full Text] [PDF]