Major mitochondrial DNA haplotype heterogeneity in highland and lowland Amerindian populations from Bolivia

This study provides the frequencies of four mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplo groups of 233 native South Amerindians in eight populations living in the B eni Department of Bolivia, including six populations not previously studied . Linguistically, these populations belong to the three principal South Ame rindian language stocks, Andean, Equatorial-Tucanoan, and Ge-Pano-Carib. Fr equency analyses under geographic, historic, linguistic, and genetic config urations using the theta statistic of Weir (Weir 1990) and analysis of mole cular variance (AMOVA) show similar results. Results are also similar when phenetic cluster is used. Aymara belongs almost exclusively to haplogroup B , Quechua- and Moseten-speaking tribes belong to haplogroups A and B, but t he first tribe presents high frequencies of haplogroup B. Yuracare, Trinita rio, and Ignaciano exhibit high frequencies of A, B, and C haplogroups, and the Movima present a large proportion of haplogroup C. There is some corre spondence between mtDNA haplogroup frequencies and language affiliation and historical connections, but less so with geographic aspects. The present s tudy provides a context for understanding the relationship between differen t Amerindian populations living in a multiethnic area of Bolivia.