HLA genes in Mexican Mazatecans, the peopling of the Americas and the uniqueness of Amerindians

TLDR

The study was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Comunidad de Madrid, and Mexican science and health foundations. The authors analyzed HLA allele frequencies from 6,050 individuals (12,100 chromosomes) across 59 populations to compare Mexican Mazatecan Indians with other First American natives and worldwide groups. The analysis indicates Olmec–Mayan relatedness, shows that language and genetics do not fully align in microenvironmental studies, supports a more complex three‑wave peopling of the Americas, and reveals limited external genetic input with Meso‑ and South‑American Amerindians remaining relatively isolated.

Abstract

Acknowledgments: This work was supported in part by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education (PM 57–95 and PM 96–21) and Comunidad de Madrid (06–70–97 and 8.3/14/98). Gilberto Vargas‐Alarcón was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología and the Fundación Mexicana para la Salud, Mexico. Abstract: The HLA allele frequency distribution of the Mexican Mazatecan Indians (Olmec culture) has been studied and compared with those of other First American Natives and worldwide populations (a total of 12,100 chromosomes; 6,050 individuals from 59 different populations). The main conclusions are: 1) An indirect evidence of Olmec and Mayan relatedness is suggested, further supporting the notion that Olmecs may have been the precursors of Mayans; 2) Language and genetics do not completely correlate in microenvironmental studies; and 3) Peopling of the Americas was probably more complex than postulated by Greenberg and others (three peopling waves). Significant genetic input from outside is not noticed in Meso and South American Amerindians according to the phylogenetic analyses; while all world populations (including Africans, Europeans, Asians, Australians, Polynesians, North American Na‐Dene Indians and Eskimos) are genetically related. Meso and South American Amerindians tend to remain isolated in the Neighbor‐Joining, correspondence and plane genetic distance analyses.