Historia biológica de Yanga, ¿primer palenque libre de América?

The American populations are the result of crossings between Amerindians, Europeans and Africans groups, resulting in the mestizo tri-hybrid model. The African contribution requires special attention because has not been taken into account in mestizo studies until recently. The population of Yanga (State of Veracruz, Mexico) was founded in 1618 by freed African -cimarrones- constituting the first free palenque from North America and possibly from the American continent. This study confirms that the presence of African genetic traces is discrete, lower than expected given the historical importance of this population as a collector of slaves and as reference of the identity of African descent. This unexpected result is justified by dilution phenomena, selective migration and social pressure favouring certain types of crossings. On the other hand, a north-south gradient in the African contribution has been detected in Mexico, directly related to the European and inverse to the Amerindian.Las poblaciones americanas son el resultado de cruzamientos entre grupos amerindios, europeos y africanos, conformando un modelo tri-híbrido de mestizaje. La aportación africana requiere especial atención ya que, hasta hace poco tiempo, no se tuvo en consideración para estudios de mestizaje. La población de Yanga (Estado de Veracruz, México) se fundó en 1618 por libertos africanos –cimarrones- constituyendo, el primer palenque libre de Norte América y, posiblemente, del continente americano. Este trabajo confirma que los rastros genéticos africanos son discretos, e inferiores a lo esperados dada la relevancia histórica que tuvo esta población como colectora de esclavos y referente de la identidad de los afrodescendientes. Este resultado se justifica por fenómenos de dilución, de migraciones selectivas y de una presión social que favorecía ciertos tipos de cruzamientos. Por otro lado, en México se ha detectado un gradiente Norte-Sur en el aporte africano y europeo e inversamente con el amerindio

The Early Peopling of the Philippines based on mtDNA

Despite the eforts made to reconstruct the history of modern humans, there are still poorly explored regions that are key for understanding the phylogeography of our species. One of them is the Philippines, which is crucial to unravel the colonization of Southeast Asia and Oceania but where little is known about when and how the frst humans arrived. In order to shed light into this settlement, we collected samples from 157 individuals of the Philippines with the four grandparents belonging to the same region and mitochondrial variants older than 20,000 years. Next, we analyzed the hypervariable I mtDNA region by approximate Bayesian computation based on extensive spatially explicit computer simulations to select among several migration routes towards the Philippines and to estimate population genetic parameters of this colonization. We found that the colonization of the Philippines occurred more than 60,000 years ago, with long-distance dispersal and from both north and south migration routes. Our results also suggest an environmental scenario especially optimal for humans, with large carrying capacity and population growth, in comparison to other regions of Asia. In all, our study suggests a rapid expansion of modern humans towards the Philippines that could be associated with the establisment of maritime technologies and favorable environmental conditions

Demographic History of Indigenous Populations in Mesoamerica Based on mtDNA Sequence Data

The genetic characterization of Native American groups provides insights into their history and demographic events. We sequenced the mitochondrial D-loop region (control region) of 520 samples from eight Mexican indigenous groups. In addition to an analysis of the genetic diversity, structure and genetic relationship between 28 Native American populations, we applied Bayesian skyline methodology for a deeper insight into the history of Mesoamerica. AMOVA tests applying cultural, linguistic and geographic criteria were performed. MDS plots showed a central cluster of Oaxaca and Maya populations, whereas those from the North and West were located on the periphery. Demographic reconstruction indicates higher values of the effective number of breeding females (Nef) in Central Mesoamerica during the Preclassic period, whereas this pattern moves toward the Classic period for groups in the North and West. Conversely, Nef minimum values are distributed either in the Lithic period (i.e. founder effects) or in recent periods (i.e. population declines). The Mesomerican regions showed differences in population fluctuation as indicated by the maximum Inter-Generational Rate (IGRmax): i) Center-South from the lithic period until the Preclassic; ii) West from the beginning of the Preclassic period until early Classic; iii) North characterized by a wide range of temporal variation from the Lithic to the Preclassic. Our findings are consistent with the genetic variations observed between central, South and Southeast Mesoamerica and the North-West region that are related to differences in genetic drift, structure, and temporal survival strategies (agriculture versus hunter-gathering, respectively). Interestingly, although the European contact had a major negative demographic impact, we detect a previous decline in Mesoamerica that had begun a few hundred years before

Atlas topogenético de grupos indígenas mesoamericanos: una aproximación molecular

Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y EvoluciónFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEpu

Tribalización, tiempo de divergencia y estructura genética en Mesoamérica. Una aproximación molecular

El objetivo del trabajo es reconstruir, desde la genetica, la historia de las poblaciones mesoamericanas. Para ello se utilizaron dos estrategias, en la primera se caracterizaron cinco poblaciones indigenas mediante 15 marcadores autosomicos (STRs) y se aplicaron diferentes metodos estadisticos (FST, amova y mds). En la segunda se repitieron los analisis agregando tres nuevas poblaciones y utilizando tres STRs, numero de microsatelites que compartian las ocho poblaciones. Ademas, se calcularon los tiempos de coalescencia y se analizo la posible existencia de barreras geneticas. Los pueblos nativos americanos tienen un origen comun y su rica diversidad genetica y cultural se puede explicar mediante un modelo de expansion poblacional rapida y adaptaciones locales a diferentes microhabitats. Este proceso —analogo al de tribalizacion— potencio la existencia de una subestructura genetica justificada por parametros geograficos e historicolinguisticos relacionados, a su vez, con estrategias de supervivencia y sus consecuencias demograficas. Los tiempos de divergencia entre grupos indigenas coinciden con la informacion arqueológica y determinan que la fragmentacion entre Mesoamerica y Aridoamerica se produjo durante el Periodo Litico. Se corrobora tambien que los otomies podrian ser uno de los pueblos mas antiguos de Mesoamerica y que los mayas se fraccionaron de los pueblos del altiplano hace unos 3 000 años. Los periodos más activos, en cuanto al fraccionamiento poblacional, coinciden con los periodos Preclasico y Posclasico, siendo el Clasico y el colonial los mas estables. Por ultimo se determino la importancia que la aculturizacion y el flujo genetico tienen en la interpretacion de datos geneticos

Historia biológica de Yanga, ¿primer palenque libre de América?

Las poblaciones americanas son el resultado de cruzamientos entre grupos amerindios, europeos y africanos, conformando un modelo tri-híbrido de mestizaje. La aportación africana requiere especial atención ya que, hasta hace poco tiempo, no se tuvo en consideración para estudios de mestizaje. La población de Yanga (Estado de Veracruz, México) se fundó en 1618 por libertos africanos –cimarrones- constituyendo, el primer palenque libre de Norte América y, posiblemente, del continente americano. Este trabajo confirma que los rastros genéticos africanos son discretos, e inferiores a lo esperados dada la relevancia histórica que tuvo esta población como colectora de esclavos y referente de la identidad de los afrodescendientes. Este resultado se justifica por fenómenos de dilución, de migraciones selectivas y de una presión social que favorecía ciertos tipos de cruzamientos. Por otro lado, en México se ha detectado un gradiente Norte-Sur en el aporte africano y europeo e inversamente con el amerindioThe American populations are the result of crossings between Amerindians, Europeans and Africans groups, resulting in the mestizo tri-hybrid model. The African contribution requires special attention because has not been taken into account in mestizo studies until recently. The population of Yanga (State of Veracruz, Mexico) was founded in 1618 by freed African - cimarrones- constituting the first free palenque from North America and possibly from the American continent. This study confirms that the presence of African genetic traces is discrete, lower than expected given the historical importance of this population as a collector of slaves and as reference of the identity of African descent. This unexpected result is justified by dilution phenomena, selective migration and social pressure favouring certain types of crossings. On the other hand, a north-south gradient in the African contribution has been detected in Mexico, directly related to the European and inverse to the Amerindian

Y-STR haplotype background of Philippines: comparison with other Southeast Asian populations

Philippines is an archipelago in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most populated country in Southeast Asia, harboring multiple ethnic groups and cultures. Most of the non-indigenous population is composed by Chinese and Spanish immigrants. In order to characterize the Y-STR composition of Philippines, in the present study, we have collected 74 samples from unrelated males from the three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. These samples were typed for the 27 Y-STR loci included in the YFiler Plus kit. A high Y-STR haplotype diversity was found with all haplotypes being unique in our sample. Low diversity values were found for DYS391 and DYS438 (below 34%) and the multi-loci markers DYS385 and DYF387S1 were among the most diverse ones (above 95%). Since no data is available for the full set of YFiler Plus markers, a smaller set was used to calculate genetic distances between Philippines and other Southeast Asian populations. The results showed no significant differences between our samples and two other samples from Philippines, one from the general population and the other restricted to Luzon region. Significant differences were observed when comparing any of the three Philippines samples with Vietnam and Singapore populations

Autosomal indels distribution in Metropolitan Manila, Philippines

The Philippines are a group of islands in the Asia-Pacific region harboring a high diversity of cultures, languages and people due to various migration waves and different degrees of admixture between neighboring groups. In this work we studied the most populous region of the country – Metropolitan Manila – with a set of small autosomal insertion deletion (indel) polymorphisms, to assess their genetic diversity and usefulness in forensic context. Using a single-tube multiplex reaction we characterized 38 indels in 195 individuals born in the National Capital Region, allowing to establish an allele frequency database for future reference in forensic applications. The genetic diversity observed was high (average heterozygosity = 0.40890), similar to previous studies in other East Asian populations, and the marker set reached good levels of informativeness, with a combined power of discrimination of 99.999999999997% and combined power of exclusion of 99.50%. In conclusion, our study showed that this simple indel multiplex can be useful for forensic applications in Metropolitan Manila Filipino population

Exploring the African genetic influence in the first settlement founded by African slaves in America

The present study aims to outline the genetic makeup of the current population of the town of Yanga (Veracruz State, Mexico), the first Latin American settlement founded by African slaves in Mexico. For this purpose, we carried out the genetic characterization of 60 individuals from Yanga, analysing 15 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) and interpreting the results in the context of the admixed population known as Mexican mestizos. The genetic contribution from the three most important human groups in the current admixed Yanga population was calculated using Structure software. We detected a high percentage of Amerindian (48%) and European inheritance (44.7%), and a much less important African contribution (7.3%). These results were then compared with 10 other Mexican mestizo populations. The results fit the tri-hybrid model for admixture characterized by a high genetic contribution from Europeans and Africans in the north—though the African influence is lower—and a decreasing contribution from these two populations to the south and southeast. Conversely, the Amerindian component presents maximum values in the south and minimum values in the north. The Amerindian and European genetic traces are related to their ancestral settlements, but the African contribution can be explained by other parameters. To understand the current African genetic traces, we have to assume that there was a redistribution of these population groups and an important admixture phenomenon which led to the dilution of the African ancestral genetic pool. Furthermore, admixture was favoured by conditions that allowed individuals who intermarried to ascend in social status. These reasons would explain why despite the fact that Yanga was founded by black slaves, high levels of African ancestry are not found in the current population

The Study of European Migration in Asia-Pacific During the Early Modern Period: San Salvador de Isla Hermosa (Keelung, Taiwan)

The paper is an introduction to the study of European migration into Asia-Pacific through the case study of northern Taiwan. Here, several Spanish and Dutch colonial outposts were founded during the first part of the seventeenth century. Since 2011 and up to 2016 we have uncovered six burials of the cemetery of the Spanish colony of San Salvador de Kelang (Heping Dao, Keelung) (1626–42). The cemetery was associated with the Convento de Todos los Santos, Convent of All Saints, also discovered anew during our excavations. DNA analysis shows that at least one of the individuals was of European descent. This finding is unprecedented in Asia-Pacific within this early chronological framework. The archaeological evidence stands in contrast to the scarcity of contemporary written information relating to death and burials, both in Spanish and Dutch sources. We use the written sources to contextualize the archaeological data, inquiring about the life trajectories of the European colonists in Taiwan, people who truly lived in a global world. We aim to synthesize these data to create a documentary background for future research towards a better understanding of the European migration patterns into Asia-Pacific within cultural, biological, and demographic dimensions. This study offers a valuable contrast with research on the same topic elsewhere in the world