European population substructure: clustering of northern and southern populations.
Using a genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel, we observed population structure in a diverse group of Europeans and European Americans. Under a variety of conditions and tests, there is a consistent and reproducible distinction between "northern" and "southern" European population groups: most individual participants with southern European ancestry (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek) have >85% membership in the "southern" population; and most northern, western, eastern, and central Europeans have >90% in the "northern" population group. Ashkenazi Jewish as well as Sephardic Jewish origin also showed >85% membership in the "southern" population, consistent with a later Mediterranean origin of these ethnic groups. Based on this work, we have developed a core set of informative SNP markers that can control for this partition in European population structure in a variety of clinical and genetic studies.
Seldin
Michael F
MF
Rowe Program in Human Genetics, Departments of Biological Chemistry and Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America. mfseldin@ucdavis.edu
Shigeta
Russell
R
Villoslada
Pablo
P
Selmi
Carlo
C
Tuomilehto
Jaakko
J
Silva
Gabriel
G
Belmont
John W
JW
Klareskog
Lars
L
Gregersen
Peter K
PK
D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000235:genetics; D043322:Lactase / Q000172:deficiency; D009518:New York; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
D005819:Genetic Markers; D043322:Lactase