title: HLA genes in populations of the Aleutian islands.
abstract: We typed a subset of the Aleut population for HLA loci (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQB1) to obtain an HLA profile, which was compared to other Eurasian and Amerindian populations for studying Aleut origin and its significance on the peopling of the Americas. Allele frequencies at the four loci were identified in an Aleut sample using standard indirect DNA sequencing methods. Genetic distances with Amerindians and Eurasians were obtained by comparing Aleut allele frequencies with a worldwide population database (13,164 chromosomes). The most frequently extended HLA haplotypes were also calculated. We also generated Aleut relatedness dendrograms and calculated correspondence relatedness in a multidimensional scale. Both neighbor-joining dendrograms and correspondence analysis separated Aleuts from Eskimos and Amerindians. Aleuts are closer genetically to Europeans, including Scandinavians and English. Our results are concordant with those obtained by Y-chromosome analysis, suggesting that most male Aleut ancestors of our sample came mainly from Europe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Madrid Regional Blood Center, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avenida Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rey
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Areces
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parga-Lozano
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gómez-Prieto
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arnaiz-Villena
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska; D005060:Europe; 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; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004930:Inuit / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D058974:Phylogeography / Q000266:history; D012426:Russia; D044465:White People
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