title: Origin of Mexican Nahuas (Aztecs) according to HLA genes and their relationships with worldwide populations.
abstract: A Nahua Aztec isolated group from Morelos State (Mexico) was studied for their HLA profile. The relationship with other Amerindians and worldwide populations was studied by using 13,818 chromosomes and calculating Nei's chord genetic distances (DA), neighbor-joining dendrograms and correspondence multidimensional values. Three new HLA extended haplotypes were found in our group: A*30-B*49-DRB1*1001-DQB1*0501 (the most frequent one in this population), A*02-B*52-DRB1*1402-DQB1*0301 and A*68-B*61-DRB1*1602-DQB1*0303. Both genetic distances and correspondence analyses clearly show that our Nahua isolated group is genetically close to some of the most ancient groups living in Mexico (Mayans, Zapotecans, Mixtecans). This suggests that Nahua language (Nahuatl) may have been imposed to scattered groups throughout Mexico; otherwise Aztecs may have been living in Mexico long before their postulated immigration in the XII century AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Grupo de Estudio de Genomica y Proteomica en Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia Ignacio Chavez, 14080 Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vargas-Alarcon
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moscoso
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martinez-Laso
authors.forename: Jose Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Perez
authors.forename: Carmina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Flores-Dominguez
authors.forename: Juan Ignacio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Serrano-Vela
authors.forename: Almudena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Granados
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arnaiz-Villena
mesh_terms: D005787:Gene Frequency; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000235:genetics*; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008800:Mexico; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens; D059866:HLA-DQ beta-Chains; C069051:HLA-DQB1 antigen; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains