Tracing the genomic ancestry of Peruvians reveals a major legacy of pre-Columbian ancestors

Jose R. Sandoval, Alberto Salazar-Granara, Oscar Acosta, Wilder Castillo-Herrera, Ricardo Fujita, Sergio D.J. Pena, Fabricio R. Santos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

In order to investigate the underlying genetic structure and genomic ancestry proportions of Peruvian subpopulations, we analyzed 551 human samples of 25 localities from the Andean, Amazonian, and Coastal regions of Peru with a set of 40 ancestry informative insertion-deletion polymorphisms. Using genotypes of reference populations from different continents for comparison, our analysis indicated that populations from all 25 Peruvian locations had predominantly Amerindian genetic ancestry. Among populations from the Titicaca Lake islands of Taquile, Amantani, Anapia, and Uros, and the Yanque locality from the southern Peruvian Andes, there was no significant proportion of non-autochthonous genomes, indicating that their genetic background is effectively derived from the first settlers of South America. However, the Andean populations from San Marcos, Cajamarca, Characato and Chogo, and coastal populations from Lambayeque and Lima displayed a low but significant European ancestry proportion. Furthermore, Amazonian localities of Pucallpa, Lamas, Chachapoyas, and Andean localities of Ayacucho and Huancayo displayed intermediate levels of non-autochthonous ancestry, mostly from Europe. These results are in close agreement with the documented history of post-Columbian immigrations in Peru and with several reports suggesting a larger effective size of indigenous inhabitants during the formation of the current country's population.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)627-634
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Human Genetics
Volume58
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Admixture
  • Colonization history
  • Genomic ancestry
  • INDELs
  • Peru
  • Population structure
  • Pre-Columbian legacy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Tracing the genomic ancestry of Peruvians reveals a major legacy of pre-Columbian ancestors'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this