Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
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.
Source: Molecular Biology and Evolution
Authors: Mateus H Gouveia, Victor Borda, Thiago P Leal, Rennan G Moreira, Andrew W Bergen, Fernanda S G Kehdy, Isabela Alvim, Marla M Aquino, Gilderlanio S Araujo, Nathalia M Araujo, Vinicius Furlan, Raquel Liboredo, Moara Machado, Wagner C S Magalhaes, Lucas A Michelin, Maíra R Rodrigues, Fernanda Rodrigues-Soares, Hanaisa P Sant Anna, Meddly L Santolalla, Marília O Scliar, Giordano Soares-Souza, Roxana Zamudio, Camila Zolini, Maria Catira Bortolini, Michael Dean, Robert H Gilman, Heinner Guio, Jorge Rocha, Alexandre C Pereira, Mauricio L Barreto, Bernardo L Horta, Maria F Lima-Costa, Sam M Mbulaiteye, Stephen J Chanock, Sarah A Tishkoff, Meredith Yeager, Eduardo Tarazona-Santos
Institutions: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, National Human Genome Research Institute, Fiocruz Minas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Universidade Federal do Pará, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, The University of Melbourne, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Johns Hopkins University, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Universidade do Porto, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Instituto do Coração - HCFMUSP, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, University of Pennsylvania
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, Ministério da Educação, Ministério da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Center for Information Technology, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute
Awards: G1131822963, G1375722973, G168645203, G237172224, G2848099663, G3138332842, Integrative Genomic Analyses of Human Evolution and Adaptation in Africa, G3301999511, Integrative Genomics of Body Size and Metabolism in Ethnically Diverse Africans, G6284412508, Genetic epidemiology of complex diseases, G6404751656, G655501369, G6832470332, G7585116665, G9000138908, G9000159767, G9000201978, G9000234425, G9000335224, Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology
OpenAlex ID: W3009182049