HLA class I in three West African ethnic groups: genetic distances from sub-Saharan and Caucasoid populations

Fulani of Burkina Faso (West Africa) are a particularly interesting ethnic group because of their lower susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malari a as compared to sympatric populations, Mossi and Rimaibe, Moreover, the oc currence of a Caucasoid component in their genetic make-up has been suggest ed on the basis of their physical traits and cultural traditions even thoug h this view was not supported by genetic studies. A total of 149 unrelated subjects (53 Mossi, 47 Rimaibe and 49 Fulani) have been typed for 97 HLA cl ass I alleles with the amplification refractory mutation system/polymerase chain reaction (ARMS/PCR) technique, Mossi and Rimaibe data were pooled sin ce none of the 42 statistically testable alleles exhibited a significant he terogeneity. These pooled gene frequencies were found to be very different from those of Fulani: a certain (P<0.001) or a likely (0.001 <P<0.01) diffe rence was found for 5 and 12 alleles, respectively. Four alleles (A*24, A*2 9, B*27, B*3701) appeared to be essentially "private" Fulani alleles with r espect to the other two populations but their presence was not associated w ith higher resistance to P.falciparum. Our data have then been compared usi ng chord distances (CD) with those from the literature on Africans (includi ng Gambian Fulani) and Caucasoids. The Burkina Faso and Gambian Fulani turn ed out to be very different (CD=2.191). Moreover, Burkina Faso Fulani were very distant from sympatric Mossi and Rimaibe (CDs=1.912 and 1.884), wherea s Gambian Fulani were similar to sympatric Mandinka and Wolof (CDs=0.412 an d 0.388) to an extent comparable to that found between Mossi and Rimaibe (C D=0.555), Our study does not suggest the involvement of HLA I in the higher resistance to malaria of Fulani, and confirms a low, if any, Caucasoid com ponent in their gene peel.