HLA-DRB1 frequencies of the Comorian population and their genetic affinities with Sub-Saharan African and Indian Oceanian populations.
BACKGROUND
Ethnic-historic sources have considered the Comorian population to be the result of an amalgamation of African, Arabian and Southeast Asian groups.


OBJECTIVE
This study seeks to determine the genetic relationships and contributions from Sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Oceania and to reconstruct past migration events.


METHODS
The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphism of a Comorian population was described and analysed.


RESULTS
Genetic distances and multidimensional scaling analyses showed complex patterns of genetic differentiation in the Indian Oceanian area as a result of continuous gene flow occurring within the past approximately 2500 years. Nevertheless, the Comorian genetic pool appears to be a mix of Bantu-speaking and Arab populations as testified to by admixture estimations of almost 50-60% and 27-33%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The Comorian population may represent the eastern limit of the recent and massive eastward Bantu expansion. In contrast to the population from Madagascar (Merina), only a restricted influence of Austronesian populations was found.
Gibert
M
M
Centre d'Anthropologie, UMR 8555, CNRS, Toulouse, France. gibert@cict.fr
Touinssi
M
M
Reviron
D
D
Mercier
P
P
Boëtsch
G
G
Chiaroni
J
J
D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D007195:Indian Ocean Islands; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains