Genetic structure of the population of Cabo Verde (West Africa): Evidence of substantial european admixture

Abstract

The population of Cabo Verde was founded in the fifteenth century (1462), on the basis of slaves brought from the West African coast and a few Europeans, mainly from Portugal. The polymorphism of six red cell enzymes (ADA, AK1, ALAD, ESD, GLO1, and PGD) and ten plasma proteins (AHSG, BF, F13A, F13B, GC, HP, ORM, PLG, TBG, and TF) was studied in a sample of 268 individuals from Cabo Verde (West Africa). There is no statistical evidence of genetic heterogeneity between the two groups of islands which constitute the archipelago, Barlavento and Sotavento. The gene frequency distribution observed in Cabo Verde differs, in many markers, from that of West African populations, suggesting an important European influence. The proportion of Caucasian genes in the population of Cabo Verde has been calculated to be M = 0.3634 +/- 0.0510, and the considerable dispersion of the locus-specific admixture estimates seems to indicate random drift has also played a role in the evolution of the allele frequencies in the archipelago. Partition of the variance of the mean estimate in evolutionary and sampling variance shows the evolutionary variance is more than ten times higher than the sampling variance. When dendrograms are constructed on the basis of different genetic distances, the population of Cabo Verde clusters with Afro-Americans, forming a different group from the populations of the African continent. This is interpreted as a consequence of the importance of Caucasian admixture both in Afro-Americans and in the population of Cabo Verde.

Ethnicity, gene flow, and population subdivision in Lim�n, Costa Rica

“…PGM1, a West African average computed from data from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988), Spanish and North American Indian (no data available for subtypes from Central American groups) from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988). GCI, a West African average computed from data from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988) and Parra et al (1995), Roman (instead of Spanish) and North American Indian (no data available for subtypes from Central American groups) from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988). Hb, a West African average computed from data from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988), Portugal (instead of Spain) and Central-American Indian from Roychoudhury and Nei (1988).…”

The Admixture Structure and Genetic Variation of the Archipelago of Cape Verde and Its Implications for Admixture Mapping Studies

“…Previous work on the genetic composition of the Cape Verde islands, based on classic protein markers and autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci, detected substantial levels of African-European admixture, with mean proportions of European ancestry ranging from 36 to 54%, depending on the markers and statistical methods used to quantify admixture [21], [22]. However, these studies did not provide individual ancestry estimates and paid little attention to variation in the amount of admixture across islands.…”

Parallel Trajectories of Genetic and Linguistic Admixture in a Genetically Admixed Creole Population

“…Genetically admixed populations that speak creole languages show high genetic and idiolectal variation-genetic variation owing to heterogeneity in ancestry within admixed groups [25,26] and idiolectal variation owing to recent language formation from differentiated sources [27][28][29][30][31]. To examine cotransmission of genetic and linguistic variation within populations, we collected genetic markers and speech recordings in the admixed creole-speaking population of Cape Verde, whose Kriolu language traces to West African languages and Portuguese [29,[32][33][34][35] and whose genetic ancestry has individual variation in European and continental African contributions [36][37][38][39]. In parallel with the combined Portuguese and West African origin of Kriolu, we find that genetic admixture in Cape Verde varies on an axis separating Iberian and Senegambian populations.…”