The trans-Saharan slave trade - clues from interpolation analyses and high-resolution characterization of mitochondrial DNA lineages

Harich, Nourdin; Costa, Marta; Fernandes, Verónica; Kandil, Mostafa; Pereira, Joana B.; Silva, Nuno; Pereira, Luı́sa

doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-138

Cited by 60 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…JQ639893–Q639895). Our findings are consistent with those from studies based on current African populations, which show that haplotype L1c is restricted to central Africa ( 5 ) and L3d and L3e are most frequently found in western and central Africa, respectively ( 6 ). …”

supporting

confidence: 92%

Mycobacterium tuberculosisComplex in Remains of 18th–19th Century Slaves, Brazil

Jaeger¹,

Souza²,

Dias³

et al. 2013

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

supporting

confidence: 92%

Mycobacterium tuberculosisComplex in Remains of 18th–19th Century Slaves, Brazil

Jaeger¹,

Souza²,

Dias³

et al. 2013

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…It has been suggested that these lineages reached North Africa since Holocene times, when climatic amelioration permeated the Saharan desert. However the historical trans-Saharan slave trade promoted by the Arabs may have been mainly responsible for their present day incidence [9], [76].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing the Algerian Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Profiles into the North African Landscape

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

North Africa is considered a distinct geographic and ethnic entity within Africa. Although modern humans originated in this Continent, studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome genealogical markers provide evidence that the North African gene pool has been shaped by the back-migration of several Eurasian lineages in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. More recent influences from sub-Saharan Africa and Mediterranean Europe are also evident. The presence of East-West and North-South haplogroup frequency gradients strongly reinforces the genetic complexity of this region. However, this genetic scenario is beset with a notable gap, which is the lack of consistent information for Algeria, the largest country in the Maghreb. To fill this gap, we analyzed a sample of 240 unrelated subjects from a northwest Algeria cosmopolitan population using mtDNA sequences and Y-chromosome biallelic polymorphisms, focusing on the fine dissection of haplogroups E and R, which are the most prevalent in North Africa and Europe respectively. The Eurasian component in Algeria reached 80% for mtDNA and 90% for Y-chromosome. However, within them, the North African genetic component for mtDNA (U6 and M1; 20%) is significantly smaller than the paternal (E-M81 and E-V65; 70%). The unexpected presence of the European-derived Y-chromosome lineages R-M412, R-S116, R-U152 and R-M529 in Algeria and the rest of the Maghreb could be the counterparts of the mtDNA H1, H3 and V subgroups, pointing to direct maritime contacts between the European and North African sides of the western Mediterranean. Female influx of sub-Saharan Africans into Algeria (20%) is also significantly greater than the male (10%). In spite of these sexual asymmetries, the Algerian uniparental profiles faithfully correlate between each other and with the geography.

show abstract

“…Other L3 lineages seem to have been introduced even in more recent times, during the slave trade initiated by the Arab conquest of North Africa [67]. The Near Eastern haplogroups J and T (and probably K) appear to be concentrated more towards the east [68], mirroring the higher densities of U6, H and V in the west [64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population expansion in the North African Late Pleistocene signalled by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U6

et al. 2010

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThe archaeology of North Africa remains enigmatic, with questions of population continuity versus discontinuity taking centre-stage. Debates have focused on population transitions between the bearers of the Middle Palaeolithic Aterian industry and the later Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Maghreb, as well as between the late Pleistocene and Holocene.ResultsImproved resolution of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup U6 phylogeny, by the screening of 39 new complete sequences, has enabled us to infer a signal of moderate population expansion using Bayesian coalescent methods. To ascertain the time for this expansion, we applied both a mutation rate accounting for purifying selection and one with an internal calibration based on four approximate archaeological dates: the settlement of the Canary Islands, the settlement of Sardinia and its internal population re-expansion, and the split between haplogroups U5 and U6 around the time of the first modern human settlement of the Near East.ConclusionsA Bayesian skyline plot placed the main expansion in the time frame of the Late Pleistocene, around 20 ka, and spatial smoothing techniques suggested that the most probable geographic region for this demographic event was to the west of North Africa. A comparison with U6's European sister clade, U5, revealed a stronger population expansion at around this time in Europe. Also in contrast with U5, a weak signal of a recent population expansion in the last 5,000 years was observed in North Africa, pointing to a moderate impact of the late Neolithic on the local population size of the southern Mediterranean coast.

show abstract

The trans-Saharan slave trade - clues from interpolation analyses and high-resolution characterization of mitochondrial DNA lineages

Cited by 60 publications

References 36 publications

Mycobacterium tuberculosisComplex in Remains of 18th–19th Century Slaves, Brazil

Mycobacterium tuberculosisComplex in Remains of 18th–19th Century Slaves, Brazil

Introducing the Algerian Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Profiles into the North African Landscape

Population expansion in the North African Late Pleistocene signalled by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U6

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About