Genetic diversity of North African populations in the 17q21 genomic region.

The demographic history of human populations in North Africa has been characterized by complex migration processes that have determined the current genetic structure of these populations. We examined the autosomal markers of eight sampled populations in northern Africa (Tunisia and Libya) to explore their genetic structure and to place them in a global context. We genotyped a set of 30 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) extending 9.5 Mb and encompassing the 17q21 inversion region. Our data include 403 individuals from Tunisia and Libya. To put our populations in the global context, we analyzed our data in comparison with other populations, including those of the 1000 Genomes Project. To evaluate the data, we conducted genetic diversity, principal component, STRUCTURE, and haplotype analyses. The analysis of genetic composition revealed the genetic heterogeneity of North African populations. The principal component and STRUCTURE analyses converged and revealed the intermediate position of North Africans between Europeans and Asians. Haplotypic analysis demonstrated that the normal (H1) and inverted (H2) polymorphisms in the chromosome 17q21 region occur in North Africa at frequencies similar to those found in European and Southwest Asian populations. The results highlight the complex demographic history of North Africa, reflecting the influence of genetic flow from Europe and the Near East that dates to the prehistoric period. These gene flows added to demographic factors (inbreeding, endogamy), natural factors (topography, Sahara), and cultural factors that play a role in the emergence of the diverse and heterogeneous genetic structures of North African populations. This study contributes to a better understanding of the complex structure of North African populations.

Metabolic diversity in human populations and correlation with genetic and ancestral geographic distances.

DNA polymorphic markers and self-defined ethnicity groupings are used to group individuals with shared ancient geographic ancestry. Here we studied whether ancestral relationships between individuals could be identified from metabolic screening data reported by the California newborn screening (NBS) program. NBS data includes 41 blood metabolites measured by tandem mass spectrometry from singleton babies in 17 parent-reported ethnicity groupings. Ethnicity-associated differences identified for 71% of NBS metabolites (29 of 41, Cohen's d > 0.5) showed larger differences in blood levels of acylcarnitines than of amino acids (P < 1e-4). A metabolic distance measure, developed to compare ethnic groupings based on metabolic differences, showed low positive correlation with genetic and ancient geographic distances between the groups' ancestral world populations. Several outlier group pairs were identified with larger genetic and smaller metabolic distances (Black versus White) or with smaller genetic and larger metabolic distances (Chinese versus Japanese) indicating the influence of genetic and of environmental factors on metabolism. Using machine learning, comparison of metabolic profiles between all pairs of ethnic groupings distinguished individuals with larger genetic distance (Black versus Chinese, AUC = 0.96), while genetically more similar individuals could not be separated metabolically (Hispanic versus Native American, AUC = 0.51). Additionally, we identified metabolites informative for inferring metabolic ancestry in individuals from genetically similar populations, which included biomarkers for inborn metabolic disorders (C10:1, C12:1, C3, C5OH, Leucine-Isoleucine). This work sheds new light on metabolic differences in healthy newborns in diverse populations, which could have implications for improving genetic disease screening.

The population genetics characteristics of a 90 locus panel of microhaplotypes.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small genomic regions with multiple SNPs (microhaplotypes, MHs) are rapidly emerging as novel forensic investigative tools to assist in individual identification, kinship analyses, ancestry inference, and deconvolution of DNA mixtures. Here, we analyzed information for 90 microhaplotype loci in 4009 individuals from 79 world populations in 6 major biogeographic regions. The study included multiplex microhaplotype sequencing (mMHseq) data analyzed for 524 individuals from 16 populations and genotype data for 3485 individuals from 63 populations curated from public repositories. Analyses of the 79 populations revealed excellent characteristics for this 90-plex MH panel for various forensic applications achieving an overall average effective number of allele values (Ae) of 4.55 (range 1.04-19.27) for individualization and mixture deconvolution. Population-specific random match probabilities ranged from a low of 10-115 to a maximum of 10-66. Mean informativeness (In) for ancestry inference was 0.355 (range 0.117-0.883). 65 novel SNPs were detected in 39 of the MHs using mMHseq. Of the 3018 different microhaplotype alleles identified, 1337 occurred at frequencies > 5% in at least one of the populations studied. The 90-plex MH panel enables effective differentiation of population groupings for major biogeographic regions as well as delineation of distinct subgroupings within regions. Open-source, web-based software is available to support validation of this technology for forensic case work analysis and to tailor MH analysis for specific geographical regions.

A Distinctive Pattern of Diversity for the TAS2R38 Gene in North Africa.

The TAS2R38 gene is involved in bitter taste perception. This study documents the distinctive diversity patterns in northern Africa of functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs713598 and rs1726866 at the TAS2R38 locus and places those patterns in the context of global TAS2R38 diversity. Data previously genotyped with TaqMan assay were analyzed for rs713598 and rs1726866 for 375 unrelated subjects (305 Tunisians from seven locations: Mahdia, Sousse, Kesra, Nebeur, Kairouan, Smar, and Kerkennah; plus 70 Libyans). Data were analyzed to present haplotypes and genotypes before comparison with data from worldwide populations. This study provides information about TAS2R38 diversity in a part of the world that is relatively understudied. Considering the two SNPs rs713598 and rs1726866, the CA nucleotide haplotype leading to the PV amino acid haplotype is extremely rare almost everywhere, but it is relatively frequent (between 6% and 15%) in northern Africa, where it coexists with the globally common amino acid haplotypes PA, AA, and AV. Given its higher frequency in North Africa, the authors propose the CA nucleotide haplotype as a biogeographic marker for forensic purposes.

Genetic history of the population of Crete.

The medieval history of several populations often suffers from scarcity of contemporary records resulting in contradictory and sometimes biased interpretations by historians. This is the situation with the population of the island of Crete, which remained relatively undisturbed until the Middle Ages when multiple wars, invasions, and occupations by foreigners took place. Historians have considered the effects of the occupation of Crete by the Arabs (in the 9th and 10th centuries C.E.) and the Venetians (in the 13th to the 17th centuries C.E.) to the local population. To obtain insights on such effects from a genetic perspective, we studied representative samples from 17 Cretan districts using the Illumina 1 million or 2.5 million arrays and compared the Cretans to the populations of origin of the medieval conquerors and settlers. Highlights of our findings include (1) small genetic contributions from the Arab occupation to the extant Cretan population, (2) low genetic contribution of the Venetians to the extant Cretan population, and (3) evidence of a genetic relationship among the Cretans and Central, Northern, and Eastern Europeans, which could be explained by the settlement in the island of northern origin tribes during the medieval period. Our results show how the interaction between genetics and the historical record can help shed light on the historical record.

Vibratory Urticaria Associated with a Missense Variant in ADGRE2.

Patients with autosomal dominant vibratory urticaria have localized hives and systemic manifestations in response to dermal vibration, with coincident degranulation of mast cells and increased histamine levels in serum. We identified a previously unknown missense substitution in ADGRE2 (also known as EMR2), which was predicted to result in the replacement of cysteine with tyrosine at amino acid position 492 (p.C492Y), as the only nonsynonymous variant cosegregating with vibratory urticaria in two large kindreds. The ADGRE2 receptor undergoes autocatalytic cleavage, producing an extracellular subunit that noncovalently binds a transmembrane subunit. We showed that the variant probably destabilizes an autoinhibitory subunit interaction, sensitizing mast cells to IgE-independent vibration-induced degranulation. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).

Correction to: Mixture deconvolution by massively parallel sequencing of microhaplotypes.

The original version of this article contained an author name error. In this article, Katrina Madella has been corrected to Katrina Maddela.

Mixture deconvolution by massively parallel sequencing of microhaplotypes.

Short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRs) are the standard markers for forensic human identification. STRs are highly polymorphic loci analyzed using a direct PCR-to-CE (capillary electrophoresis) approach. However, STRs have limitations particularly when dealing with complex mixtures. These include slippage of the polymerase during amplification causing stutter fragments that can be indistinguishable from minor contributor alleles, preferential amplification of shorter alleles, and limited number of loci that can be effectively co-amplified with CE. Massively parallel sequencing (MPS), by enabling a higher level of multiplexing and actual sequencing of the DNA, provides forensic practitioners an increased power of discrimination offered by the sequence of STR alleles and access to new sequence-based markers. Microhaplotypes (i.e., microhaps or MHs) are emerging multi-allelic loci of two or more SNPs within < 300 bp that are highly polymorphic, have alleles all of the same length, and do not generate stutter fragments. The growing number of loci described in the literature along with initial mixture investigations supports the potential for microhaps to aid in mixture interpretation and the purpose of this study was to demonstrate that practically. A panel of 36 microhaplotypes, selected from a set of over 130 loci, was tested with the Ion S5™ MPS platform (Thermo Fisher Scientific) on single-source samples, synthetic two-to-six person mixtures at different concentrations/contributor ratios, and on crime scene-like samples. The panel was tested both in multiplex with STRs and SNPs and individually. The analysis of single-source samples showed that the allele coverage ratio across all loci was 0.88 ± 0.08 which is in line with the peak height ratio of STR alleles in CE. In mixture studies, results showed that the input DNA can be much higher than with conventional CE, without the risk of oversaturating the detection system, enabling an increased sensitivity for the minor contributor in imbalanced mixtures with abundant amounts of DNA. Furthermore, the absence of stutter fragments simplifies the interpretation. On casework-like samples, MPS of MHs enabled the detection of a higher number of alleles from minor donors than MPS and CE of STRs. These results demonstrated that MPS of microhaplotypes can complement STRs and enhance human identification practices when dealing with complex imbalanced mixtures.

Selecting microhaplotypes optimized for different purposes.

Massively parallel sequencing is transforming forensic work by allowing various useful forensic markers, such as STRPs and SNPs, to be multiplexed providing information on ancestry, individual and familial identification, phenotypes for eye/hair/skin pigmentation, and the deconvolution of mixtures. Microhaplotypes also become feasible with massively parallel sequencing, these are DNA segments (smaller than 300 nucleotides) that are selected to contain multiple SNPs unambiguously defining three or more haplotype alleles occurring at common frequencies. The physical extent of a microhaplotype can thus be covered by a single sequence read making these loci phase-known codominant genetic systems. Such microhaplotypes supply significantly more information than a single SNP can. Our efforts to develop useful sets of microhaplotypes have already identified 182 such loci that we have studied on a large number of human populations from around the world. We present various analyses on 83 populations in our ongoing study for a subset of the best microhaplotypes currently available illustrating their characteristics and potential utility for ancestry, identification, and mixture deconvolution.

Ancestry inference of 96 population samples using microhaplotypes.

Microhaplotypes have become a new type of forensic marker with a great ability to identify and deconvolute mixtures because massively parallel sequencing (MPS) allows the alleles (haplotypes) of the multi-SNP loci to be determined directly for an individual. As originally defined, a microhaplotype locus is a short segment of DNA with two or more SNPs defining three or more haplotypes. The length is short enough, less than about 300 bp, that the read length of current MPS technology can produce a phase-known sequence of each chromosome of an individual. As part of the discovery phase of our studies, data on 130 microhaplotype loci with estimates of haplotype frequency data on 83 populations have been published. To provide a better picture of global allele frequency variation, we have now tested 13 more populations for 65 of the microhaplotype loci from among those with higher levels of inter-population gene frequency variation, including 8 loci not previously published. These loci provide clear distinctions among 6 biogeographic regions and provide some information distinguishing up to 10 clusters of populations.

Confounding effects of microbiome on the susceptibility of TNFSF15 to Crohn's disease in the Ryukyu Islands.

Crohn's disease (CD) involves chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract due to dysregulation of the host immune response to the gut microbiome. Even though the host-microbiome interactions are likely contributors to the development of CD, a few studies have detected genetic variants that change bacterial compositions and increase CD risk. We focus on one of the well-replicated susceptible genes, tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 15 (TNFSF15), and apply statistical analyses for personal profiles of genotypes and salivary microbiota collected from CD cases and controls in the Ryukyu Islands, southernmost islands of the Japanese archipelago. Our association test confirmed the susceptibility of TNFSF15 in the Ryukyu Islands. We found that the recessive model was supported to fit the observed genotype frequency of risk alleles slightly better than the additive model, defining the genetic effect on CD if a pair of the chromosomes in an individual consists of all risk alleles. The combined analysis of haplotypes and salivary microbiome from a small set of samples showed a significant association of the genetic effect with the increase of Prevotella, which led to a significant increase of CD risk. However, the genetic effect on CD disappeared if the abundance of Prevotella was low, suggesting the genetic contribution to CD is conditionally independent given a fixed amount of Prevotella. Although our statistical power is limited due to the small sample size, these results support an idea that the genetic susceptibility of TNFSF15 to CD may be confounded, in part, by the increase of Prevotella.

A form of the metabolic syndrome associated with mutations in DYRK1B.

BACKGROUND: Genetic analysis has been successful in identifying causative mutations for individual cardiovascular risk factors. Success has been more limited in mapping susceptibility genes for clusters of cardiovascular risk traits, such as those in the metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We identified three large families with coinheritance of early-onset coronary artery disease, central obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. We used linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing to identify the disease-causing gene. RESULTS: A founder mutation was identified in DYRK1B, substituting cysteine for arginine at position 102 in the highly conserved kinase-like domain. The mutation precisely cosegregated with the clinical syndrome in all the affected family members and was absent in unaffected family members and unrelated controls. Functional characterization of the disease gene revealed that nonmutant protein encoded by DYRK1B inhibits the SHH (sonic hedgehog) and Wnt signaling pathways and consequently enhances adipogenesis. Furthermore, DYRK1B promoted the expression of the key gluconeogenic enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase. The R102C allele showed gain-of-function activities by potentiating these effects. A second mutation, substituting proline for histidine 90, was found to cosegregate with a similar clinical syndrome in an ethnically distinct family. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate a role for DYRK1B in adipogenesis and glucose homeostasis and associate its altered function with an inherited form of the metabolic syndrome. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).

Proposed nomenclature for microhaplotypes.

Microhaplotypes are a new type of genetic marker in forensics and population genetics. A standardized nomenclature is desirable. A simple approach that does not require a central authority for approval is proposed. The nomenclature proposed follows the recommendation of the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee ( http://www.genenames.org ): "We strongly encourage naming families and groups of genes related by sequence and/or function using a "root" symbol. This is an efficient and informative way to name related genes, and already works well for a number of established gene families…" The proposal involves a simple root consisting of "mh" followed by the two-digit chromosome number and unique characters established by the authors in the initial publication. We suggest the unique symbol be an indication of the laboratory followed by characters unique to the chromosome and laboratory. For instance, the microhaplotype symbol mh01KK-001 refers to a locus on chromosome 1 published by the Kidd Lab (KK-) as their #001. Publication defines mh01KK-001 as comprised of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs4648344, rs6663840, rs58111155, and rs6688969.

Increasing the reference populations for the 55 AISNP panel: the need and benefits.

Ancestry inference for an individual can only be as good as the reference populations with allele frequency data on the SNPs being used. If the most relevant ancestral population(s) does not have data available for the SNPs studied, then analyses based on DNA evidence may indicate a quite distantly related population, albeit one among the more closely related of the existing reference populations. We have added reference population allele frequencies for 14 additional population samples (with >1100 individuals studied) to the 125 population samples previously published for the Kidd Lab 55 AISNP panel. Allele frequencies are now publicly available for all 55 SNPs in ALFRED and FROG-kb for a total of 139 population samples. This Kidd Lab panel of 55 ancestry informative SNPs has been incorporated in commercial kits by both ThermoFisher Scientific and Illumina for massively parallel sequencing. Researchers employing those kits will find the enhanced set of reference populations useful.

Maritime route of colonization of Europe.

The Neolithic populations, which colonized Europe approximately 9,000 y ago, presumably migrated from Near East to Anatolia and from there to Central Europe through Thrace and the Balkans. An alternative route would have been island hopping across the Southern European coast. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed genome-wide DNA polymorphisms on populations bordering the Mediterranean coast and from Anatolia and mainland Europe. We observe a striking structure correlating genes with geography around the Mediterranean Sea with characteristic east to west clines of gene flow. Using population network analysis, we also find that the gene flow from Anatolia to Europe was through Dodecanese, Crete, and the Southern European coast, compatible with the hypothesis that a maritime coastal route was mainly used for the migration of Neolithic farmers to Europe.

Genetic variation in Tunisia in the context of human diversity worldwide.

OBJECTIVES: North Africa has a complex demographic history of migrations from within Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. However, population genetic studies, especially for autosomal genetic markers, are few relative to other world regions. We examined autosomal markers for eight Tunisian and Libyan populations in order to place them in a global context. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were collected by TaqMan on 399 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms on 331 individuals from Tunisia and Libya. These data were combined with data on the same SNPs previously typed on 2585 individuals from 57 populations from around the world. Where meaningful, close by SNPs were combined into multiallelic haplotypes. Data were evaluated by clustering, principal components, and population tree analyses. For a subset of 102 SNPs, data from the literature on seven additional North African populations were included in analyses. RESULTS: Average heterozygosity of the North African populations is high relative to our global samples, consistent with a complex demographic history. The Tunisian and Libyan samples form a discrete cluster in the global and regional views and can be separated from sub-Sahara, Middle East, and Europe. Within Tunisia the Nebeur and Smar are outlier groups. Across North Africa, pervasive East-West geographical patterns were not found. DISCUSSION: Known historical migrations and invasions did not displace or homogenize the genetic variation in the region but rather enriched it. Even a small region like Tunisia contains considerable genetic diversity. Future studies across North Africa have the potential to increase our understanding of the historical demographic factors influencing the region. Am J Phys Anthropol 161:62-71, 2016. © 2016 The Authors American Journal of Physical Anthropology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Global diversity and evidence for coevolution of KIR and HLA.

The killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) gene cluster shows extensive genetic diversity, as do the HLA class I loci, which encode ligands for KIR molecules. We genotyped 1,642 individuals from 30 geographically distinct populations to examine population-level evidence for coevolution of these two functionally related but unlinked gene clusters. We observed strong negative correlations between the presence of activating KIR genes and their corresponding HLA ligand groups across populations, especially KIR3DS1 and its putative HLA-B Bw4-80I ligands (r = -0.66, P = 0.038). In contrast, we observed weak positive relationships between the various inhibitory KIR genes and their ligands. We observed a negative correlation between distance from East Africa and frequency of activating KIR genes and their corresponding ligands, suggesting a balance between selection on HLA and KIR loci. Most KIR-HLA genetic association studies indicate a primary influence of activating KIR-HLA genotypes in disease risk; concomitantly, activating receptor-ligand pairs in this study show the strongest signature of coevolution of these two complex genetic systems as compared with inhibitory receptor-ligand pairs.

Inferring population structure and demographic history using Y-STR data from worldwide populations.

The Y chromosome is one of the best genetic materials to explore the evolutionary history of human populations. Global analyses of Y chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) data can reveal very interesting world population structures and histories. However, previous Y-STR works tended to focus on small geographical ranges or only included limited sample sizes. In this study, we have investigated population structure and demographic history using 17 Y chromosomal STRs data of 979 males from 44 worldwide populations. The largest genetic distances have been observed between pairs of African and non-African populations. American populations with the lowest genetic diversities also showed large genetic distances and coancestry coefficients with other populations, whereas Eurasian populations displayed close genetic affinities. African populations tend to have the oldest time to the most recent common ancestors (TMRCAs), the largest effective population sizes and the earliest expansion times, whereas the American, Siberian, Melanesian, and isolated Atayal populations have the most recent TMRCAs and expansion times, and the smallest effective population sizes. This clear geographic pattern is well consistent with serial founder model for the origin of populations outside Africa. The Y-STR dataset presented here provides the most detailed view of worldwide population structure and human male demographic history, and additionally will be of great benefit to future forensic applications and population genetic studies.

Genetic variation in IL28B and spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States, with estimates of 4 million HCV-infected individuals in the United States and 170 million worldwide. Most (70-80%) HCV infections persist and about 30% of individuals with persistent infection develop chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Epidemiological, viral and host factors have been associated with the differences in HCV clearance or persistence, and studies have demonstrated that a strong host immune response against HCV favours viral clearance. Thus, variation in genes involved in the immune response may contribute to the ability to clear the virus. In a recent genome-wide association study, a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs12979860) 3 kilobases upstream of the IL28B gene, which encodes the type III interferon IFN-3, was shown to associate strongly with more than a twofold difference in response to HCV drug treatment. To determine the potential effect of rs12979860 variation on outcome to HCV infection in a natural history setting, we genotyped this variant in HCV cohorts comprised of individuals who spontaneously cleared the virus (n = 388) or had persistent infection (n = 620). We show that the C/C genotype strongly enhances resolution of HCV infection among individuals of both European and African ancestry. To our knowledge, this is the strongest and most significant genetic effect associated with natural clearance of HCV, and these results implicate a primary role for IL28B in resolution of HCV infection.

Mongolians in the Genetic Landscape of Central Asia: Exploring the Genetic Relations among Mongolians and Other World Populations.

Genetic data on North and Central Asian populations are underrepresented in the literature, especially for autosomal markers. In the present study we used 812 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed across all the human autosomes and extensively studied at Yale to examine the affinities of two recently collected samples of populations: rural and cosmopolitan Mongolians from Ulaanbaatar and nomadic, Turkic-speaking Tsaatan from Mongolia near the Siberian border. We compare these two populations with each other and with a global set of populations and discuss their relationships to New World populations. Specifically, we analyze data on 521 autosomal loci (single SNPs and multi-SNP haplotypes) studied in 57 populations representing all the major geographical regions of the world. We conclude that these North and Central Asian populations are genetically distinct from all other populations in our study and may be close to the ancestral lineage leading to the New World populations.