title: Sousse: extreme genetic heterogeneity in North Africa.
abstract: The male genetic landscape of the territory currently known as Tunisia is hampered by the scarcity of data, especially from cosmopolitan areas such as the coastal city of Sousse. In order to alleviate this lacuna, 220 males from Sousse were examined, for the first time, for more than 50 Y-chromosome single-nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNPs) markers and compared with 3099 individuals from key geographically targeted locations in North Africa, Europe and the Near East. The paternal lineages observed belong to a common set of Y haplogroups previously described in North Africa. In addition to the prominent autochthonous North African E-M81 haplogroup which is exclusively represented by its subclade E-M183 (44.55% of Y-chromosomes), a number of Near Eastern Neolithic lineages including E-M78, J-M267 and J-M172 account for 39% of the Y-chromosomes detected. Principal component analysis based on haplogroup frequencies, multidimensional scaling based on Rst genetic distances and analyses of molecular variance using both Y-chromosome short tandem repeat haplotypes and Y-SNP haplogroup data revealed that the Tunisian and North African groups, as a whole, are intra- and inter-specific diverse with Sousse being highly heterogeneous.
authors.affiliation: 1] Biology Department, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, USA [2] Laboratory of Genetics, Immunology, and Human Pathologies, Faculty of Science of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Karima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fadhlaoui-Zid
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcia-Bertrand
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética y Antropología Fı sica, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alfonso-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ramzi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zemni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetics, Immunology, and Human Pathologies, Faculty of Science of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benammar-Elgaaied
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Rene J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Herrera
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008877:Middle East; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014416:Tunisia