The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico
Mexico is a rich source for anthropological and population genetic studies with high diversity in ethnic and linguistic groups. The country witnessed the rise and fall of major civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec, but resulting from European colonization, the population landscape has dramati...
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doaj-c8a609ce51b345b090c7aefa0a3222152021-09-26T00:13:40ZengMDPI AGGenes2073-44252021-09-01121453145310.3390/genes12091453The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern MexicoMartin Bodner0Ugo A. Perego1J. Edgar Gomez2Ricardo M. Cerda-Flores3Nicola Rambaldi Migliore4Scott R. Woodward5Walther Parson6Alessandro Achilli7Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaDipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “L. Spallanzani”, Università di Pavia, 27100 Pavia, ItalySorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, USAFacultad de Enfermería, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey 64460, MexicoDipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “L. Spallanzani”, Università di Pavia, 27100 Pavia, ItalySorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, USAInstitute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, AustriaDipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “L. Spallanzani”, Università di Pavia, 27100 Pavia, ItalyMexico is a rich source for anthropological and population genetic studies with high diversity in ethnic and linguistic groups. The country witnessed the rise and fall of major civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec, but resulting from European colonization, the population landscape has dramatically changed. Today, the majority of Mexicans do not identify themselves as Indigenous but as admixed, and appear to have very little in common with their pre-Columbian predecessors. However, when the maternally inherited mitochondrial (mt)DNA is investigated in the modern Mexican population, this is not the case. Control region sequences of 2021 samples deriving from all over the country revealed an overwhelming Indigenous American legacy, with almost 90% of mtDNAs belonging to the four major pan-American haplogroups A2, B2, C1, and D1. This finding supports a very low European contribution to the Mexican gene pool by female colonizers and confirms the effectiveness of employing uniparental markers as a tool to reconstruct a country’s history. In addition, the distinct frequency and dispersal patterns of Indigenous American and West Eurasian clades highlight the benefit such large and country-wide databases provide for studying the impact of colonialism from a female perspective and population stratification. The importance of geographical database subsets not only for forensic application is clearly demonstrated.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/9/1453forensic sciencehaplogroupsphylogenyphylogeographyMtDNA databasequality control |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Martin Bodner Ugo A. Perego J. Edgar Gomez Ricardo M. Cerda-Flores Nicola Rambaldi Migliore Scott R. Woodward Walther Parson Alessandro Achilli |
spellingShingle |
Martin Bodner Ugo A. Perego J. Edgar Gomez Ricardo M. Cerda-Flores Nicola Rambaldi Migliore Scott R. Woodward Walther Parson Alessandro Achilli The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico Genes forensic science haplogroups phylogeny phylogeography MtDNA database quality control |
author_facet |
Martin Bodner Ugo A. Perego J. Edgar Gomez Ricardo M. Cerda-Flores Nicola Rambaldi Migliore Scott R. Woodward Walther Parson Alessandro Achilli |
author_sort |
Martin Bodner |
title |
The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico |
title_short |
The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico |
title_full |
The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico |
title_fullStr |
The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Mitochondrial DNA Landscape of Modern Mexico |
title_sort |
mitochondrial dna landscape of modern mexico |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Genes |
issn |
2073-4425 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Mexico is a rich source for anthropological and population genetic studies with high diversity in ethnic and linguistic groups. The country witnessed the rise and fall of major civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec, but resulting from European colonization, the population landscape has dramatically changed. Today, the majority of Mexicans do not identify themselves as Indigenous but as admixed, and appear to have very little in common with their pre-Columbian predecessors. However, when the maternally inherited mitochondrial (mt)DNA is investigated in the modern Mexican population, this is not the case. Control region sequences of 2021 samples deriving from all over the country revealed an overwhelming Indigenous American legacy, with almost 90% of mtDNAs belonging to the four major pan-American haplogroups A2, B2, C1, and D1. This finding supports a very low European contribution to the Mexican gene pool by female colonizers and confirms the effectiveness of employing uniparental markers as a tool to reconstruct a country’s history. In addition, the distinct frequency and dispersal patterns of Indigenous American and West Eurasian clades highlight the benefit such large and country-wide databases provide for studying the impact of colonialism from a female perspective and population stratification. The importance of geographical database subsets not only for forensic application is clearly demonstrated. |
topic |
forensic science haplogroups phylogeny phylogeography MtDNA database quality control |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/9/1453 |
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