Genetic diversity in the Dominican Republic: Implications for the population and demographic history of Hispaniola [poster]

Abstract

The island nations of the Caribbean have been the site of complex human population movements that involve indigenous founders, European colonizers, and enslaved African laborers. This multi-faceted settlement history creates specific patterns of genetic diversity that have been revealed by mitochondrial haplotype studies in island nations such as Cuba, Jamaica, St. Vincent, and Trinidad. However, coverage of other island nations is required to better understand human migration in the Caribbean. To expand our knowledge of Caribbean migration history and clarify the demographic history of the Dominican Republic, we analyzed genetic diversity in 1000 individuals from 25 different locations in the country. We sequenced the mtDNA control region for all individuals, and genotyped all male samples for Y-STR and Y-SNP variation. Our results showed that the maternal lineages of Dominicans were largely African in origin, with the remainder being Native American and West Eurasian. By contrast, their paternal lineages were largely West Eurasian, with Native American, African and South-East Asian lineages comprising the rest. These results reflect the strong influence of non-native admixture, particularly European male contributions, on the genetic diversity in the Dominican Republic. The relative frequencies of these maternal and paternal lineages also varied among the 25 communities, revealing local patterns of diversity related to the settlement history of and recent demographic movements in the country. We further noted great mtDNA and Y-chromosome haplotypic diversity in Dominican populations. Overall, this study will provide new insights into the history and structure of genetic diversity in the Dominican Republic.