“…2 ) that showed a sharp geographical clustering separating Sub-Saharan, European, and Middle Eastern populations in the negative part of dimension 1 from most of North African populations, including Tunisian ones, in the positive part of that dimension. The proximity of Sub-Saharan populations closer to European than to North African ones is in accordance with previous studies 14 , 22 , 45 , 46 and the outsider positions of the Kenyans and the Finnish just reflect the peculiarities of these two populations, since the Kenyans considered were Maasai, among whom a considerable degree of endogamy has been reported and the Finnish are known to have passed through a recent bottleneck 46 . Figure.…”
Section: Resultssupporting
confidence: 92%
“…2) that showed a sharp geographical clustering separating Sub-Saharan, European, and Middle Eastern populations in the negative part of dimension 1 from most of North African populations, including Tunisian ones, in the positive part of that dimension. The proximity of Sub-Saharan populations closer to European than to North African ones is in accordance with previous studies 14,22,45,46 and the outsider positions of the Kenyans and the Finnish just reflect the peculiarities of these two populations, since the Kenyans considered were Maasai, among whom a considerable degree of endogamy has been reported and the Finnish are known to have passed through a recent bottleneck 46 . Not devaluating the overrepresentation of Tunisians in this analysis, is of note the diversity of Tunisian populations: the Tunisian Berbers are very dispersed, denoting well their heterogeneity; the Cosmopolitans and Tunisian Andalusians are more central in the plot close to the non-Tunisian North Africans; and the two studied Arab populations are rather apart from each other, with Kairouan near Berber populations and Wesletia showing more affinities with Middle Eastern ones.…”
Section: Y-str Genetic Diversity In Tunisiasupporting
confidence: 92%
“…Previous works with Y-chromosome markers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] have shown that in North Africa the most widespread and common Y lineages are the E-M81, which reaches an average frequency of 45% across the region 15,20,21 and is thought to have a very recent origin probably in Northwest Africa 19 , and J-M267, accounting for around 30% of North Africans and assumed to have spread out of the Arabia Peninsula into North Africa, as is shown by, for instance, its east-west decreasing prevalence 11,14,15,20,21,23 . There is wide agreement about the sources of J-M267 in North Africa, which imply multiple and temporarily different expansions of Middle-Eastern and Arabic populations through the Mediterranean.…”
To obtain refreshed insights into the paternal lineages of Tunisian populations, Y-chromosome diversity was assessed in two populations belonging to an Arab genealogical lineage, Kairouan and Wesletia, as well as in four Tunisian Andalusian populations, Testour, Slouguia, Qalaat-El-Andalous and El Alia. The Arabs from Kairouan revealed 73.47% of E-M81 and close affinities with Berber groups, indicating they are likely arabized Berbers, clearly differentiated from the Arabs from Wesletia, who harbored the highest frequency (71.8%) of the Middle Eastern component ever observed in North Africa. In the Tunisian Andalusians, the North African component largely prevailed, followed by the Middle Eastern contribution. Global comparative analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of Tunisian populations, among which, as a whole, dominated a set of lineages ascribed to be of autochthonous Berber origin (71.67%), beside a component of essentially Middle Eastern extraction (18.35%), and signatures of Sub-Saharan (5.2%), European (3.45%) and Asiatic (1.33%) contributions. The remarkable frequency of T-M70 in Wesletia (17.4%) prompted to refine its phylogeographic analysis, allowing to confirm its Middle Eastern origin, though signs of local evolution in Northern Africa were also detected. Evidence was clear on the ancient introduction of T lineages into the region, probably since Neolithic times associated to spread of agriculture.
“…2 ) that showed a sharp geographical clustering separating Sub-Saharan, European, and Middle Eastern populations in the negative part of dimension 1 from most of North African populations, including Tunisian ones, in the positive part of that dimension. The proximity of Sub-Saharan populations closer to European than to North African ones is in accordance with previous studies 14 , 22 , 45 , 46 and the outsider positions of the Kenyans and the Finnish just reflect the peculiarities of these two populations, since the Kenyans considered were Maasai, among whom a considerable degree of endogamy has been reported and the Finnish are known to have passed through a recent bottleneck 46 . Figure.…”
Section: Resultssupporting
confidence: 92%
“…2) that showed a sharp geographical clustering separating Sub-Saharan, European, and Middle Eastern populations in the negative part of dimension 1 from most of North African populations, including Tunisian ones, in the positive part of that dimension. The proximity of Sub-Saharan populations closer to European than to North African ones is in accordance with previous studies 14,22,45,46 and the outsider positions of the Kenyans and the Finnish just reflect the peculiarities of these two populations, since the Kenyans considered were Maasai, among whom a considerable degree of endogamy has been reported and the Finnish are known to have passed through a recent bottleneck 46 . Not devaluating the overrepresentation of Tunisians in this analysis, is of note the diversity of Tunisian populations: the Tunisian Berbers are very dispersed, denoting well their heterogeneity; the Cosmopolitans and Tunisian Andalusians are more central in the plot close to the non-Tunisian North Africans; and the two studied Arab populations are rather apart from each other, with Kairouan near Berber populations and Wesletia showing more affinities with Middle Eastern ones.…”
Section: Y-str Genetic Diversity In Tunisiasupporting
confidence: 92%
“…Previous works with Y-chromosome markers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] have shown that in North Africa the most widespread and common Y lineages are the E-M81, which reaches an average frequency of 45% across the region 15,20,21 and is thought to have a very recent origin probably in Northwest Africa 19 , and J-M267, accounting for around 30% of North Africans and assumed to have spread out of the Arabia Peninsula into North Africa, as is shown by, for instance, its east-west decreasing prevalence 11,14,15,20,21,23 . There is wide agreement about the sources of J-M267 in North Africa, which imply multiple and temporarily different expansions of Middle-Eastern and Arabic populations through the Mediterranean.…”
To obtain refreshed insights into the paternal lineages of Tunisian populations, Y-chromosome diversity was assessed in two populations belonging to an Arab genealogical lineage, Kairouan and Wesletia, as well as in four Tunisian Andalusian populations, Testour, Slouguia, Qalaat-El-Andalous and El Alia. The Arabs from Kairouan revealed 73.47% of E-M81 and close affinities with Berber groups, indicating they are likely arabized Berbers, clearly differentiated from the Arabs from Wesletia, who harbored the highest frequency (71.8%) of the Middle Eastern component ever observed in North Africa. In the Tunisian Andalusians, the North African component largely prevailed, followed by the Middle Eastern contribution. Global comparative analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of Tunisian populations, among which, as a whole, dominated a set of lineages ascribed to be of autochthonous Berber origin (71.67%), beside a component of essentially Middle Eastern extraction (18.35%), and signatures of Sub-Saharan (5.2%), European (3.45%) and Asiatic (1.33%) contributions. The remarkable frequency of T-M70 in Wesletia (17.4%) prompted to refine its phylogeographic analysis, allowing to confirm its Middle Eastern origin, though signs of local evolution in Northern Africa were also detected. Evidence was clear on the ancient introduction of T lineages into the region, probably since Neolithic times associated to spread of agriculture.
“…To that effect, we have analyzed 264 mitogenomes of individuals from the Chaoui Amazigh population. The Chaoui Imazighen inhabit the Aurès mountainous region in North Eastern Algeria, and despite being one of the largest Amazigh populations in North Africa, just two genetic studies analyzing Y-chromosome and autosomal STRs have covered this population 24 , 25 . We focus on the mtDNA diversity observed in three different localities in the Aurès region and analyze the time and geographic origin of the maternal lineages in our dataset.…”
Despite being enclosed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, North Africa has been the scenario of multiple human migrations that have shaped the genetic structure of its present-day populations. Despite its richness, North Africa remains underrepresented in genomic studies. To overcome this, we have sequenced and analyzed 264 mitogenomes from the Algerian Chaoui-speaking Imazighen (a.k.a. Berbers) living in the Aurès region. The maternal genetic composition of the Aurès is similar to Arab populations in the region, dominated by West Eurasian lineages with a moderate presence of M1/U6 North African and L sub-Saharan lineages. When focusing on the time and geographic origin of the North African specific clades within the non-autochthonous haplogroups, different geographical neighboring regions contributed to the North African maternal gene pool during time periods that could be attributed to previously suggested admixture events in the region, since Paleolithic times to recent historical movements such as the Arabization. We have also observed the role of North Africa as a source of geneflow mainly in Southern European regions since Neolithic times. Finally, the present work constitutes an effort to increase the representation of North African populations in genetic databases, which is key to understand their history.
“…Samples from five Algerian groups were collected from: Amazigh individuals from the cities of Batna (n = 47), Oum El Bouaghi (n = 47) and Khenchela (n = 39) 32 , 33 , 60 , 61 , Mozabite Amazigh individuals from Ghardaïa (n = 16) and Arab individuals from Algiers (n = 40) 32 . The cities of Batna, Oum El Bouaghi and Khenchela are the capitals of the wilayas (provinces) of the same name, located in the mountainous region of the Aurès in Northeastern Algeria, characterized by a rugged topography 54 .…”
The strategic location of North Africa has led to cultural and demographic shifts, shaping its genetic structure. Historical migrations brought different genetic components that are evident in present-day North African genomes, along with autochthonous components. The Imazighen (plural of Amazigh) are believed to be the descendants of autochthonous North Africans and speak various Amazigh languages, which belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family. However, the arrival of different human groups, especially during the Arab conquest, caused cultural and linguistic changes in local populations, increasing their heterogeneity. We aim to characterize the genetic structure of the region, using the largest Amazigh dataset to date and other reference samples. Our findings indicate microgeographical genetic heterogeneity among Amazigh populations, modeled by various admixture waves and different effective population sizes. A first admixture wave is detected group-wide around the twelfth century, whereas a second wave appears in some Amazigh groups around the nineteenth century. These events involved populations with higher genetic ancestry from south of the Sahara compared to the current North Africans. A plausible explanation would be the historical trans-Saharan slave trade, which lasted from the Roman times to the nineteenth century. Furthermore, our investigation shows that assortative mating in North Africa has been rare.
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