Rasta Livewire

Authors: Spínola, H.1; Middleton, D.2; Brehm, A.1

Source: Tissue Antigens, Volume 66, Number 1, July 2005, pp. 26-36(11)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

The human leukocyte antigen-A (HLA-A), -B and -DRB1 polymorphism was examined in the Portuguese population, discriminating between North, Centre and South inhabitants. All data were obtained at high-resolution level, using sequence-based typing.

The most frequent allele at each locus was A* 020101 (26%), B* 440301 and B* 510101 (12% each) and DRB1* 070101 (15%). The predominant three-locus haplotype was A*020101-B*440301-DRB1*070101 (3.1%), highly frequent in North Portugal (5.4%), lower in Centre (2%) and absent in the South.

The present study demonstrates that the Portuguese population has been genetically influenced by Europeans and Africans, via several historic immigrations. North Portugal seems to concentrate, … an ancient genetic pool originated from several … Africans and Europeans, influences throughout millenniums. (Editor’s Note: See articles - The African Kings of Spain, and The African Roots of Spain : to get a good background context of African immigration to the Iberian Pennisula @Rastalivewire.com)

South Portugal shows an African genetic influence, probably of recent origin by means of Berbers… during Moorish expansion.

We found that Centre Portugal is the distribution limit of some alleles and haplotypes that characterize the North or the South of the country. Despite North, Centre and South Portugal not being significantly different in allele frequencies, this study shows that HLA allele and haplotype frequencies are not homogeneous in the country. North and South Portugal show more similarity to North Africans in opposition to Centre which appears closer to Europeans.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Rastas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.