Tracing the genetic legacy in the French Caribbean islands: A study of mitochondrial and Y‐chromosome lineages in the Guadeloupe archipelago

Mendisco, Fanny; Pémonge, Marie‐Hélène; Romon, Thomas; Lafleur, Gérard; Richard, Gérard; Courtaud, Patrice; Deguilloux, Marie‐France

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23931

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…We identified 10–13% less European ancestry among X chromosomes compared to autosomes of sampled women, suggesting that there was a higher proportion of European male than female ancestry among the community’s founders. This is consistent with historical accounts and genetic data that show asymmetrical admixture reflecting colonial power imbalances across the Caribbean [ 8 , 28 ], and there is prior evidence for relatively higher proportions of non-African male admixture in Dominica based on Y chromosome short tandem repeats [ 7 ]. However, we interpret our X chromosome estimates with caution given the small number of generations (5–6) since initial admixture in this community (Tables 3 and 4 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The dating of this admixture estimate in the mid-19th century closely follows emancipation in Dominica in 1834, supporting oral accounts that communities in this area were formed by newly emancipated people seeking sustained refuge along the island’s steep eastern coast [ 6 , 14 ]. Although the largest proportion of extant genetic variation in Bwa Mawego, Dominica is associated with African reference populations, followed by European and Amerindian mixture proportions (Tables 2 and 4 ), we detected significantly more Amerindian admixture in this area than has been identified elsewhere in the Lesser Antilles [ 7 , 8 , 12 ]. This reflects the locally variable impacts of colonialism throughout the Caribbean that continue to impact populations into the present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 44%

“…Dominica’s unique admixture composition and relatively high proportion of indigenous Amerindian genetic ancestry [ 26 ] highlight the locally variable impacts of colonial forces and specific ecologies in the Caribbean. This is further emphasized by the near absence of Amerindian ancestry found among the Guadeloupe archipelago neighboring the island to the north [ 8 ]. While such absences promote narratives of indigenous “extinction” in the Caribbean, our findings from rural Dominica demonstrate that, as has been found among other living groups in Cuba and Puerto Rico, indigenous lineages survive into the present and are highly variable in their distributions [ 3 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Commonwealth of Dominica is a mountainous island nation in the Lesser Antilles where exceptionally steep terrain is historically known to have provided refuge for people of indigenous and African ancestries fleeing colonial violence and enslavement between the late 15 th and mid-19 th centuries [ 5 , 6 ]. Mitochondrial and Y chromosome data indicate that uniquely higher proportions of indigenous Amerindian genetic lineages have survived in Dominica than among neighboring Caribbean islands, but genome-wide patterns of extant variation in Dominica have yet to be characterized [ 7 , 8 ]. We assess population structure and genetic ancestry in a horticultural community on the eastern coast of Dominica using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and genealogical data to inform post-colonial history in this unique region with biological evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure in rural Dominica

et al. 2021

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The Caribbean is a genetically diverse region with heterogeneous admixture compositions influenced by local island ecologies, migrations, colonial conflicts, and demographic histories. The Commonwealth of Dominica is a mountainous island in the Lesser Antilles historically known to harbor communities with unique patterns of migration, mixture, and isolation. This community-based population genetic study adds biological evidence to inform post-colonial narrative histories in a Dominican horticultural village. High density single nucleotide polymorphism data paired with a previously compiled genealogy provide the first genome-wide insights on genetic ancestry and population structure in Dominica. We assessed family-based clustering, inferred global ancestry, and dated recent admixture by implementing the fastSTRUCTURE clustering algorithm, modeling graph-based migration with TreeMix, assessing patterns of linkage disequilibrium decay with ALDER, and visualizing data from Dominica with Human Genome Diversity Panel references. These analyses distinguish family-based genetic structure from variation in African, European, and indigenous Amerindian admixture proportions, and analyses of linkage disequilibrium decay estimate admixture dates 5–6 generations (~160 years) ago. African ancestry accounts for the largest mixture components, followed by European and then indigenous components; however, our global ancestry inferences are consistent with previous mitochondrial, Y chromosome, and ancestry marker data from Dominica that show uniquely higher proportions of indigenous ancestry and lower proportions of African ancestry relative to known admixture in other French- and English-speaking Caribbean islands. Our genetic results support local narratives about the community’s history and founding, which indicate that newly emancipated people settled in the steep, dense vegetation along Dominica’s eastern coast in the mid-19th century. Strong genetic signals of post-colonial admixture and family-based structure highlight the localized impacts of colonial forces and island ecologies in this region, and more data from other groups are needed to more broadly inform on Dominica’s complex history and present diversity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 44%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure in rural Dominica

et al. 2021

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“…2015 ; Poznik et al. 2016 ; Mendisco et al. 2019 ), in line with a coastal origin of slaves rather than Sahelian.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades

D’Atanasio

Trionfetti

Bonito

et al. 2020

Genome Biology and Evolution

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The Dominican Republic is one of the two countries on the Hispaniola island, which is part of the Antilles. Hispaniola was interested by the European colonisation and massive deportation of African slaves since the XVI century and these events heavily shaped the genetic composition of the present-day population. In order to shed light about the effect of the European rules, we analysed 92 SNPs on the Y chromosome in 182 Dominican individuals from three different locations. The Dominican Y haplogroup composition was characterised by an excess of northern African/European lineages (59%), followed by the African clades (38%), while the Native-American lineages were rare (3%). The comparison with the mtDNA variability, dominated by African clades, revealed a sex-biased admixture pattern, in line with the colonial society dominated by European men. When other Caribbean and non-Caribbean former colonies were also considered, we noted a difference between territories under a Spanish rule (like the Dominican Republic) and British/French rule, with the former characterised by an excess of European Y lineages reflecting the more permissive Iberian legislation about mixed people and slavery. Finally, we analysed the distribution in Africa of the Dominican lineages with a putative African origin, mainly focusing on central and western Africa, which were the main sources of African slaves. We found that most (83%) of the African lineages observed in Santo Domingo have a central African ancestry, suggesting that most of the slaves were deported from regions

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A population history of indigenous Bahamian islanders: Insights from ancient DNA

Forbes‐Pateman

Yardumian

Vilar

et al. 2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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Objectives: The Bahamas is an archipelago in the western Atlantic Ocean that stretches over 1000 km, just north of Cuba and east of the Florida Peninsula. Modern DNA studies show that contemporary Bahamians are genetic descendants of European and African ancestors, unlike Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, where Indigenous descendancy is well documented. For The Bahamas little was known about the genetic ancestry of the Indigenous Lucayans (AD 700-1600) and their relationship to other Indigenous Caribbean populations. In this study, we investigated genetic diversity in Indigenous Lucayans from the Bahamas Archipelago to better understand the phylogeography of their genetic lineages, and to determine their relationship with other Indigenous Caribbean populations. Materials and methods:We characterized genetic diversity across two uniparental markers in 31 ancient individuals from burial sites on seven Bahamian islands. Results:We observed significant homogeneity in Lucayan paternal lineages, with only two haplogroups (Q-M902 and Q-Z781) found among them. Mitochondrial lineages were more diverse, with individuals belonging to haplogroup A2, B2, C1b, and C1d1. Four were assigned to a previously unidentified C1d lineage. Of the B2 samples, 7 of 11 belonged to the rare South America/Caribbean haplogroup B2e. This haplogroup was the most prevalent in the Northwest Bahamas while C1, particularly C1d, was more prevalent in the Central and Southern Bahamas.Discussion: These findings document a complex genetic history with an initial migration from Hispaniola beginning 1300 years ago, and possible gene flow from Cuba to Andros in late Bahamian prehistory.

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Tracing the genetic legacy in the French Caribbean islands: A study of mitochondrial and Y‐chromosome lineages in the Guadeloupe archipelago

Cited by 7 publications

References 83 publications

Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure in rural Dominica

Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure in rural Dominica

Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades

A population history of indigenous Bahamian islanders: Insights from ancient DNA

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