Mitochondrial DNA Diversity and Evolutionar History of Native Human Populations of Northwest Patagonia (Argentina)

POSTILLONE B; COBOS V.; URRUTIA C; DEJEAN C; GONZALEZ PAULA N; PEREZ, S. IVAN; BERNAL, VALERIA

HUMAN BIOLOGY

WAYNE STATE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Detroit; Año: 2020

0018-7143

The genetic composition of Amerindian descendants from Patagonia has long been a focus ofinterest, although the information available is still scarce for many geographic areas. Here,we report the first analysis of the variation in the mtDNA control region for an area ofnorthwestern Patagonia, the North of Neuquén, with the aim of studying the processes andhistorical events that modeled the evolutionary history of these human groups. We analyzed113 individuals from two localities of northern Neuquén, along with 6 from southernNeuquén and 223 mtDNA sequences previously published from neighboring areas fromArgentina and Chile. We estimated the haplotypic variation and spatial structure of molecularvariability. Amerindian subhaplogroups predominate in the two samples from northernNeuquén (N= 70), being D1g and C1b13 the most represented, although in differentproportion. These samples exhibit Amerindian mtDNA haplotypes similar to the variantsfrom neighboring areas. Most of haplotype variability is observed within group, whilevariation among groups is relatively low and scarcely associated to geographical space. Themost frequent subhaplogroups in northern Neuquén are characteristic of native populationsfrom Patagonia and Chilean Araucania, and probably originated in the region during the LatePleistocene or Early Holocene. However, the spatial variation of mtDNA haplotypes departsfrom a latitudinal pattern and suggests differential levels of gene flow among areas during theLate Holocene; with moderate levels across the North of Neuquén as well as between thisarea and neighbouring populations from Chile and the South of Neuquén and Río Negro