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

RODRIGUES, PEDRO; VELÁZQUEZ, IRINA FLORENCIA; RIBEIRO, JULYANA; SIMÃO, FILIPA; AMORIM, ANTÓNIO; CARVALHO, ELIZEU F.; BRAVI, CLAUDIO MARCELO; BASSO, NÉSTOR GUILLERMO; REAL, LUCIANO ESTEBAN; GALLI, CLAUDIO; GONZÁLEZ, ANDREA DEL CARMEN; GAMULIN, ARIANA; SALDUTTI, ROMINA; PAROLIN, MARIA LAURA; GOMES, VERÓNICA; GUSMÃO, LEONOR

Genes

MDPI

Año: 2022 vol. 13 p. 1 - 22

Abstract: Similar to other South American regions, Tierra del Fuego has an admixed populationcharacterized by distinct ancestors: Native Americans who first occupied the continent, Europeansettlers who arrived from the late 15th century onwards, and Sub-Saharan Africans who werebrought to the Americas for slave labor. To disclose the paternal lineages in the current populationfrom Tierra del Fuego, 196 unrelated males were genotyped for 23 Y-STRs and 52 Y-SNPs.Haplotype and haplogroup diversities were high, indicating the absence of strong founder or driftevents. A high frequency of Eurasian haplogroups was detected (94.4%), followed by NativeAmerican (5.1%) and African (0.5%) ones. The haplogroup R was the most abundant (48.5%), withthe sub-haplogroup R-S116* taking up a quarter of the total dataset. Comparative analyses withother Latin American populations showed similarities with other admixed populations fromArgentina. Regarding Eurasian populations, Tierra del Fuego presented similarities with Italian andIberian populations. In an in-depth analysis of the haplogroup R-M269 and its subtypes, Tierra del Fuego displayed a close proximity to the Iberian Peninsula. The results from this study are in line with the historical records and reflect the severe demographic change led mainly by malenewcomers with paternal European origin.