Y‐chromosome lineages in São Tomé e Príncipe islands: Evidence of European influence

Abstract

The Y-chromosome haplogroup composition of the population of São Tomé e Príncipe (STP) archipelago was analyzed using 25 biallelic markers and compared with populations of different origins from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Two main Y-chromosome haplogroups were found: E3a, very common among sub-Saharans accounts for 84.2% of the paternal lineages and R1b, typical of West Eurasia, represents 8.7% of the overall male population. Nevertheless, we detected in the population of STP a significant heterogeneous distribution of R1b among the two main ethnic groups of the archipelago: Forros (10.3%) and Angolares (6.6%). Together, haplogroups known to be prevalent in West Eurasia reach 12.5% of the chromosomes analyzed unequally distributed among the two groups: Forros present 17.7% while Angolares display only 8.2% of west Eurasian haplogroups. Our findings suggest that, despite its sub-Saharan genetic background, a relevant contribution of European paternal lineages is present in nowadays STP population. This influence has shown to be stronger in Forros than in Angolares, which could be explained by the social isolation that these have last experienced through their history.

Exploring Sephardic lineages in São Tomé e Príncipe

“…Although higher than that of the mtDNA, the frequency of European Y chromosomes (20%) was not significantly different from that previously observed in samples from the general population [6,8] (Figure 1B). Moreover, the putative Jewish haplogroups J and T were not detected either.…”

“…In previous genetic studies on lineage markers [3][4][5][6] related to the colonization processes, the European impact at the mitochondrial pool was virtually nil, contrasting to approximately 8 to 24% of Y chromosome lineages in São Tomé. Among the European Y chromosomes, none were found to belong to haplogroups J and T previously reported to have high frequencies in Portuguese Jews (>50%) [7].…”

Little genetic differentiation as assessed by uniparental markers in the presence of substantial language variation in peoples of the Cross River region of Nigeria

“…Firstly BR*(xDE, JR) haplotypes appeared in two distinct clusters. Given the particularly crude assignment of NRY to this haplogroup, which encompasses a number of prominent subclades, it is likely that at least one of these represent the sub-Saharan African-specific Haplogroup B, while the other cluster may contain a typically non-sub-Saharan African haplogroup (for example Haplogroups F, G and I have been found at low frequencies amongst typically African ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe [20], presumably because of European (especially Portuguese) introgression during the Slave trade.…”

Palenque de San Basilio in Colombia: genetic data support an oral history of a paternal ancestry in Congo

“…The geographic origins of African-derived populations, in particular those created by the Atlantic slave trade, have been investigated using NRY and mtDNA. In studies of the populations of Cape Verde Islands [20,21] and Sao Tome Island [22,23], sex-specific genetic systems were used to elucidate both maternal and paternal origins. In the case of the Palenque, analysis of HLA autosomal markers and antigens [24,25], and recently NRY variation [26] has suggested a greater proportion of recent African descent (RAD) than other Colombian groups.…”