Polymorphisms of mtDNA Control Region in Tunisian and Moroccan Populations: An Enrichment of Forensic mtDNA Databases with Northern Africa Data

• NCJ Number: 227237
• Journal: Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 166-172
• Author(s): Chiara Turchi; Loredana Buscemi; Erika Giacchino; Valerio Onofri; Liane Fendt; Walther Parson; Adriano Tagliabracci
• Date Published: June 2009
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper presents a set of HVS-I/HVS-II haplotypes from Tunisia and Morocco that contribute to the worldwide collection of mitochondrial (mtDNA) sequences for forensic as well as phylogenetic purposes.

Abstract

Among 64 Tunisians, 56 different haplotypes were observed. The most common haplotype (16187T 16189C 16223T 16264T 16270T 16293G 16293G 16311C 73G 152C 182T 185T 195C 247A 263G 309.1C 315.1C; haplography [hg] L1b) was shared by four individuals. Fifty-six Moroccans could be assigned to 52 different haplotypes where the most common haplotype was of West Eurasian origin with the hg H sequence motif 263G 315.1C and variations in the HVS-II polyC-stretch (309.1C 309.2C) shared by 6 samples. The majority of the observed haplotypes belonged to the west Eurasian phylogeographic knowledge displaying the occurrence of sub-Saharan haplogroup L sequences, which were found in 48.4 percent of Tunisians and 25 percent of Moroccans, as well as the presence of the two remigrated haplogroups U6 (7.8 percent and 1.8 percent in Tunisians and Moroccans, respectively) and M1 (1.6 percent in Tunisians and 8.9 percent in Moroccans). North Africa was colonized in the Upper Palaeolithic, followed by the expansion of farming during the Neolithic from the Middle East through Egypt. Since, then, the North African coast was characterized by several invasions from various populations. The current composition of the North African population is a result of the admixture as evidenced by the heterogeneous gene pool. In the last 30 years, Italy (the country where this testing was conducted) has experienced a continuous flow of immigration from other European, Asian, and African countries, with a considerable increase in the last 10 years. At the beginning of 2007, more than 400,000 immigrants becoming legal residents in Italy came from Tunisia and Morocco; thousands of others are illegal immigrants. 1 table, 4 figures, and 29 references