Inferring the genetic structure of Northwestern Argentina by uniparental SNP typing

Tierra Del Fuego: What Is Left from the Precolonial Male Lineages?

“…For both MDS plots ( Figure 3 and Figure 4 ) generated from the pairwise genetic distances calculations, most of the admixed populations, including Tierra del Fuego, tend to cluster together and plot near to the Spanish population, evidencing a higher proportion of Eurasian male lineages than Native American and African ones. Furthermore, the male lineages from the admixed Bolivian, Peruvian, and Mexican populations seem to be less affected by the Eurasian gene flow to the Americas, as already addressed in other studies [ 15 , 40 , 97 , 98 ], having shorter genetic distances to the native population compared to the other admixed populations under analysis.…”

“…This continental ancestry pattern is identical to those previously described for Argentina, especially central and northeastern regions ( Figure 2 ). Northwestern Argentina and northern and central Patagonia, on the other hand, show noticeably different values due to a higher incidence of Native American lineages [ 14 , 15 , 24 ].…”

“…Previous studies on the genetic composition of urban populations show a heterogeneity in the migratory flows in the different regions of Argentina. Regarding mtDNA, Native American lineages reach the highest frequencies in the northern provinces [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], whereas typical European lineages were mainly reported in the central provinces [ 14 , 15 ]. Studies on Y-chromosomal markers evidence the overwhelming prevalence of Eurasian lineages in Argentina, except for the northwestern provinces, where the proportion of Native American paternal lineages is relatively high (27.8–49%) [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”