December 17, 2009

New comprehensive study on continental ancestry of Argentineans (Corach et al. 2010)

An interesting find from the study:
Whereas 96% of the individuals with European surnames carried European Y-chromosomes, 50% of the samples from individuals with Amerindian surnames had
European Y chromosomes.
The combined use of Y-chromosome, mtDNA, and autosomal markers in a sample gives us a rare opportunity to see how well inferences of ancestry from uniparental markers matches with that from autosomal ones:

European ancestry in mtDNA (44.3%) and Y-chromosome (94.1%) gives an estimate of 69.2%, compared to 78.6% for autosomal markers. Native S. American in mtDNA (53.7%) and Y-chromosome (4.9%) gives an estimate of 29.3%, compared to 17.28% for autosomal markers. Finally, African mtDNA (2%) and Y-chromosomes (0.9%) gives an estimate of 1.45% compared to 4.15% for the autosomal markers.

It is difficult to guess how much of the difference is due to the small number of markers used, how much is due to the choice of parental populations for the admixture estimate (which cannot match perfectly the actual parental populations), and how much is due to the inclusion of pigmentation-related markers which have substantial inter-continental differences, but may have shifted frequencies due to social selection.

Annals of Human Genetics doi:10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00556.x

Inferring Continental Ancestry of Argentineans from Autosomal, Y-Chromosomal and Mitochondrial DNA

Daniel Corach et al.

Abstract

We investigated the bio-geographic ancestry of Argentineans, and quantified their genetic admixture, analyzing 246 unrelated male individuals from eight provinces of three Argentinean regions using ancestry-sensitive DNA markers (ASDM) from autosomal, Y and mitochondrial chromosomes. Our results demonstrate that European, Native American and African ancestry components were detectable in the contemporary Argentineans, the amounts depending on the genetic system applied, exhibiting large inter-individual heterogeneity. Argentineans carried a large fraction of European genetic heritage in their Y-chromosomal (94.1%) and autosomal (78.5%) DNA, but their mitochondrial gene pool is mostly of Native American ancestry (53.7%); instead, African heritage was small in all three genetic systems (less than 4%). Population substructure in Argentina considering the eight sampled provinces was very small based on autosomal (0.92% of total variation was between provincial groups, p = 0.005) and mtDNA (1.77%, p = 0.005) data (none with NRY data), and all three genetic systems revealed no substructure when clustering the provinces into the three geographic regions to which they belong. The complex genetic ancestry picture detected in Argentineans underscores the need to apply ASDM from all three genetic systems to infer geographic origins and genetic admixture. This applies to all worldwide areas where people with different continental ancestry live geographically close together.

Link

16 comments:

Maju said...

European ancestry in mtDNA (44.3%) and Y-chromosome (94.1%) gives an estimate of 69.2%, compared to 78.6% for autosomal markers.

Makes sense in the context of what is known: a pattern of repeated male immigration from the same origin along with low female immigration, so the immigrants often married locals, who were already mixed (more and more Europeanized, as generations passed). This was argued in some paper in relation with Colombians and X-DNA patterns (from memory).

The inverse applies for the Amerindian ancestry logically.

In what regards to African ancestry, I can only imagine that, not being Argentina ever a plantation type of colony, this blood already arrived in mixed individuals, maybe from other Latin American countries such as neighboring Brazil or other Spanish colonies. This would account for a high likelihood that the African haploid lineages had been already lost in the admixture process in most individuals who anyhow had some African ancestry by other lineages.

It's 500 years... 25 generations roughly... 33,554,432 theoretical individual ancestors (most could be repeated by several lines, of course). Haploid lineages only tell of two.

Maju said...

Correction: more like 20 generations (counting 4 per century), in the case of Argentina maybe less, say 15 generations. That would still make 32 thousand (plus) ancestors. Not so many but still a lot in comparison with just two by the haploid lines.

Gioiello said...

This paper is recommanded for Argiedude, who said that Europeans are in Argentina less than 20%. Unfortunately we know very well in Italy Italians who hates above all the other Italians!

Fanty said...

"Not so many but still a lot in comparison with just two by the haploid lines."

thats why there is also an "Autosomal" number. (78.5% European Autosomal DNA in Argentinians)

Autosomal DNA is from ALL lines.

On the other hand.... 78.5%... thats more than "DNA Tribes" claims for Southern Europeans like Spanish,Italians and Greeks (who are all somewhat in the 60% European Autosomal DNA region. Comparation: Germans = 97% European Autosomal DNA)). LOL

Maju said...

Autosomal DNA is from ALL lines.

I know that. That's exactly what I meant.

On the other hand.... 78.5%... thats more than "DNA Tribes" claims for Southern Europeans...

DNA Tribes is laughable AFAIK. Nothing short of a scam.

Anonymous said...

Where does it make that claim? For Southern Europeans.

It is interesting. With all the SNP studies now being done, we are getting a truer picture of various ethnic groups and nationalities. Gone is the day where it was claimed that Argentinians were just Europeans in the Southern Hemisphere. When everyone can see for themselves that Argentinians don't look wholly European.

On the YHRD database, I have a genetic cousin, it is just based on a small number of STRs from Argentina, Mendoza city, in the western desert region. My other three cousins are from Northern Portugal near Galicia. Pity the database does not contain more STRs.

I have tested for those Autosomal STRs on FTDNA. I have used two databases which gave strange results. One gave, Caucasian North American population first place, second place, Hispanic North American population. WTF! The other database gave Ireland first place followed by Belgium. Again, WTF, but at least it was Europe not North American mongrelised Whites.

Gioiello said...

Ponto, have you had a SNP’s test? I am founding many Italians, those who on the first 12 markers match North–African E-M1813 and were ascribed by many scholars to a Berber ancestry, who are very different from those in other markers and their relatedness, if there is, is certainly more ancient than Middle Age. See 2PZHV (D’Orazio) and many other Europeans who match him and 7PPX6 (Fouhal from Algeria): DYS464d of D’Orazio =20 is very far from North-Africans and CDYa,b (fast mutating markers) of other Europeans demonstrate a separation of thousands of years.
If you feel a mongrel, it doesn’t mean that we Europeans feel the same and above all that we want to become it.

GrIQ said...

Autosomal DNA also considers Iranians to be Europeans..what a joke

Fanty said...

"Where does it make that claim? For Southern Europeans."

Here:
http://www.dnatribes.com/dnatribes-digest-2009-08-29.pdf

Example

Italian Autosomal DNA:
3,2% North African
11,5% Mesopotamian
27,3% Levantine (Palestinensians/Phoenicians, Egyptians etc)


Or Spanish...
18,1% North Aftrican

Portuguese
24% North African

etc....

Fanty said...

"Autosomal DNA also considers Iranians to be Europeans..what a joke"

Well...
19th century racists considered Iranians to belong to the European Race.

Language Science consideres their language to be "Indoeuropean".


The Bible rates Iraq to be Semitic but Iran (Persia) to be equal in anchestry to Greeks, Romans, Spanish and Skythians.

There is kind of a tradition to rate Iran ("Land of the Aryans") to be European. ;)

Bolinaga said...

There maybe some truth to the DNA Tribes information.

My father's family goes back to the late 1100's in the Eskoriatza in Gipuzkoa in Northern Spain based extant documents. My mother's family are all of American Colonial descent, mostly English with some Huguenot.

My DNA Tribes results said that I had the greatest affinities with Eastern Anatolia. Odd given my known ancestry.

So I had SNP and STR testing done with FTDNA which reveled my Y-chromosome to be G2a3a (M406.) This particular SNP probably originated near Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia which was part of Greater Armenia of Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval periods and after that periodically so until the 1300s.

Based on TMRCA calculations using STR values, have several DNA cousins in Spain and in Colombia at less that 800 years. My next nearest relatives are Armenians, a man from Cyprus, a Turk from eastern Turkey near Trebizond and a Greek man. Seems to bear out the DNA Tribes information.

DNA Tribes also showed some slight affinities to Amerindian Tribes which further investigation showed several possibilities in my mother's family and one in my Father's family from a woman born in Mexico who returned to Arrasate to marry and have children.

Given the military tradition in my family, I suspect that we came west as soldiers in the 1100s when Eudokia Komnene came west to marry the King of Aragon in the late 1170's. She actually ended up marrying the Count of Montpelier and her daughter married a subsequent King of Aragon.

THe arms originally granted to the Bolinaga were three eastern crowns of gold in field of blue "palo in puesto." The eastern or antique crowns are unusual in Spanish heraldry and may indicate something of the origin of the family -- from the east perhaps. There were subsequent granting of arms to Bolinaga from Eskoriatza for las Navas de Tolosa 1212 and the taking of Baeza in Jaen on the feast day of San Andres in 1227. Extant Pleitos of Hidalguia from the 1600s to the early 1800s indicate the right of my known ancestors to these devices.

You can see some of these documents in Google Books.

Andres Bolinaga
Nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut

GrIQ said...

DNA TRIBES is a total joke. Anyone who knows a little bit about genetics knows that DNA Tribes is pure crap.

For example : The North African contribution in Spain is about 2.5/3.4 %

Dupanloup, I. (2004). "Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans".

GrIQ said...

Example of why DNA tribes is a joke :
6,1% of finnic contribution in Portugal and North-Spain...

18% of North African contribution in Spain , LOL, is anyone so naive to belive this ??

Spain has below average levels of Haplogroup E for Europe

GrIQ said...

DNA Tribes does not have a reputation of a serious, scientific-minded company. I have read things on their websites that was pure fantasy, really ludicrous.

Gioiello said...

Ponto has replied here to a posting on another topic in which I adfirmed that Maltese are at least 90% Italians. They are bombed by the propaganda of some Lebanese, like the richest man over the world, who certainly has his purposes. And I too used a colorful language: "If you feel a mongrel, it doesn’t mean that we Europeans feel the same and above all that we want to become it".

The question is deeper: I am probably the first in the world to support an "Out of Italy" at least for R1b1*, and it seems to me that the last findings more and more are giving reason to me. We shall see when we have the aDNA.

This night I received my FGS from FTDNA: not only I am K1a1b1, like I knew, but a rare mutation (9932) links me to an American probably of Italian extraction (this is sayng the same Ian Logan). Then my Y and my mt are Italian from at least 10,000 years. I confide that the Jewish-like position of Vizachero, the Lebanese of Ponto or others will be defeated. I speak of History, of Genetics and am not disturbed by Ponto's words.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I came across as being concerned about the claims of extra European admixture in Southern Italians, Maltese and other Southern Europeans. I am not. Mostly I find it amusing, but at times, saddening as it indicates prejudice and ignorance. It is not my place to educate the Proles of this world.

There is just too much reliance on haplogroups. Being R1b or R1a or I1 or U5a1 or V does not make you uber European. It just means you have those haplogroups. As yet no one has found the origin points of the R1 family, R1a and R1b in Asia, and when they split off from other east Eurasian originated haplogroups. No one has discovered the origin point of the whole haplogroup I* family, and explained how I* and J* could have arisen from the precursor haplogroup IJ. It begs credulity to believe men of haplogroup IJ sudddenly became I* in Europe, and J in Asia or I* developed from IJ first in Europe, then J* developed some thousands of years later in Asia from the same IJ. Come on, it makes no sense. Either way IJ was in Europe and Asia for IJ to go the I* and J* routes.

Jews are just Europeanized Middle Easterners, probably more European than Middle Eastern. Southern Europeans are Europeans who have been Middle Easternized due to various migration events starting from the Neolithic farming even of the Holocene climate change, and some additional accretions due to stray Muslim Arabians. The mix may be similar but the result is different in both cases, the Europeans and the Jews, plus in Europeans few have been untouched by the Neolithic farmers except some Saami and Finns, who entered their part of Europe after the Neolithic peoples had already colonized the lands worth farming in Europe.

If anyone is interested by Promethease Report is public. Take a gander. Ponto Hardbottle.