The peopling of the Canary Islands: A CD4/Alu microsatellite haplotype perspective

A new CD4 microsatellite allele with three TTTTC complete repetitions, prev iously described only in hominoids, has been found in this screening. The n umber of haplotypes and heterozygosities in the Canary Islands (15 and 0.74 6 +/- 0.007) is more similar to Iberian (14 and 0.748 +/- 0.015) than to No rth African (18 and 0.827 +/- 0.009) values. However, in some islands, with less European migratory impact, haplotypes with major African assignation (90[+] and 130[+]) reach frequencies similar to African populations. There is a significant negative correlation between geographic distances to Afric a and insular heterozygosity values, which suggests a main aborigine coloni zation from East to West still detectable today. Human Immunology 62, 949-9 53 (2001). (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.