Skip Navigation

Publication Detail

Title: Origins, Admixture Dynamics, and Homogenization of the African Gene Pool in the Americas.

Authors: Gouveia, Mateus H; Borda, Victor; Leal, Thiago P; Moreira, Rennan G; Bergen, Andrew W; Kehdy, Fernanda S G; Alvim, Isabela; Aquino, Marla M; Araujo, Gilderlanio S; Araujo, Nathalia M; Furlan, Vinicius; Liboredo, Raquel; Machado, Moara; Magalhaes, Wagner C S; Michelin, Lucas A; Rodrigues, Maíra R; Rodrigues-Soares, Fernanda; Sant Anna, Hanaisa P; Santolalla, Meddly L; Scliar, Marília O; Soares-Souza, Giordano; Zamudio, Roxana; Zolini, Camila; Bortolini, Maria Catira; Dean, Michael; Gilman, Robert H; Guio, Heinner; Rocha, Jorge; Pereira, Alexandre C; Barreto, Mauricio L; Horta, Bernardo L; Lima-Costa, Maria F; Mbulaiteye, Sam M; Chanock, Stephen J; Tishkoff, Sarah A; Yeager, Meredith; Tarazona-Santos, Eduardo

Published In Mol Biol Evol, (2020 06 01)

Abstract: The Transatlantic Slave Trade transported more than 9 million Africans to the Americas between the early 16th and the mid-19th centuries. We performed a genome-wide analysis using 6,267 individuals from 25 populations to infer how different African groups contributed to North-, South-American, and Caribbean populations, in the context of geographic and geopolitical factors, and compared genetic data with demographic history records of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We observed that West-Central Africa and Western Africa-associated ancestry clusters are more prevalent in northern latitudes of the Americas, whereas the South/East Africa-associated ancestry cluster is more prevalent in southern latitudes of the Americas. This pattern results from geographic and geopolitical factors leading to population differentiation. However, there is a substantial decrease in the between-population differentiation of the African gene pool within the Americas, when compared with the regions of origin from Africa, underscoring the importance of historical factors favoring admixture between individuals with different African origins in the New World. This between-population homogenization in the Americas is consistent with the excess of West-Central Africa ancestry (the most prevalent in the Americas) in the United States and Southeast-Brazil, with respect to historical-demography expectations. We also inferred that in most of the Americas, intercontinental admixture intensification occurred between 1750 and 1850, which correlates strongly with the peak of arrivals from Africa. This study contributes with a population genetics perspective to the ongoing social, cultural, and political debate regarding ancestry, admixture, and the mestizaje process in the Americas.

PubMed ID: 32128591 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Africa; Americas; Blacks/genetics*; Enslavement/history*; Gene Pool*; Genome, Human*; History, 16th Century; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; Human Migration/history*; Humans; Phylogeography

Back
to Top