Genetic structure of north-west Africa revealed by STR analysis

We have analysed a large set of autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci in several Arabic and Berber-speaking groups from north-west Africa (ie Moroc can Arabs, northern-central and southern Moroccan Berbers, Saharawis, and M ozabites). Two levels of analysis have been devised using two sets of 12 ST R loci, (D3S1358, vWA, FCA, THO1, TPOX, CSF1PO, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5 S818, D13S317 and D7S820) and 21 (the former set plus D9S926, D11S2010, D13 S767, D145S06, D18S848, D2S1328, D4S243, F13A1, and FES/FPS). For each set, data for a number of external reference populations were gathered from the literature. Several methods of analysis based on genetic distances (neighb our-joining trees, principal coordinate analysis, boundary detection), as w ell as AMOVA, showed that genetic differentiation among NW African populati ons was very low and devoid of any spatial pattern. When the NW African pop ulations were grouped according to cultural or linguistic differences, the partition was not associated with genetic differentiation. Thus, it is like ly that Arabisation was mainly a cultural process. A clear genetic differen ce was found between NW African populations and Iberians, which underscores the Gilbraltar Straits as a strong barrier to genetic exchange; nonetheles s, some degree of gene flow into Southern Iberia may have existed. NW Afric ans were genetically closer to Iberians and to other Europeans than to Afri can Americans.