A genome-wide survey does not show the genetic distinctiveness of Basques

Basques are a cultural isolate, and, according to mainly allele frequencies of classical polymorphisms, also a genetic isolate. We investigated the differentiation of Spanish Basques from the rest of Iberian populations by means of a dense, genome-wide SNP array. We found that F ST distances between Spanish Basques and other populations were similar to those between pairs of non-Basque populations. The same result is found in a PCA of individuals, showing a general distinction between Iberians and other South Europeans independently of being Basques. Pathogen-mediated natural selection may be responsible for the high differentiation previously reported for Basques at very specific genes such as ABO, RH, and HLA. Thus, Basques cannot be considered a genetic outlier under a general genome scope and interpretations on their origin may have to be revised. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Laayouni, Hafid, Calafell, Francesc, Bertranpetit, Jaume
Other Authors:	Generalitat de Catalunya
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Published:	Springer 2010-04
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10261/111349 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002809 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006280
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