Estimates of African, European and Native American ancestry in Afro-Caribbean men on the island of Tobago.
OBJECTIVE
The Tobago Afro-Caribbean population is a valuable resource for studying the genetics of diseases that show significant differences in prevalence between populations of African descent and populations of other ancestries. Empirical confirmation of low European and Native American admixture may help in clarifying the ethnic variation in risk for such diseases. We hypothesize that the degree of European and Native American admixture in the Tobago population is low.


METHODS
Admixture was estimated in a random sample of 220 men, from a population-based prostate cancer screening survey of 3,082 Tobago males, aged 40 to 79 years. We used a set of six autosomal markers with large allele frequency differences between the major ethnic populations involved in the admixture process, Europeans, Native Americans and West Africans.


RESULTS
The ancestral proportions of Tobago population are estimated as 94.0+/-1.2% African, 4.6+/-3.4% European and 1.4+/-3.6% Native American.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that Tobago Afro-Caribbean men are predominantly of West African ancestry, with minimal European and Native American admixture. The Tobago population, thus, may carry a higher burden of high-risk alleles of African origin for certain diseases than the more admixed African-American population. Conversely, this population may benefit from a higher prevalence of protective alleles of African origin.
Miljkovic-Gacic
Iva
I
Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. ivm1@pitt.edu
Ferrell
Robert E
RE
Patrick
Alan L
AL
Kammerer
Candace M
CM
Bunker
Clareann H
CH
D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005788:Gene Pool; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014300:Trinidad and Tobago; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics; D001741:Black or African American
D017931:DNA Primers; D005819:Genetic Markers