Skip to main content
NCBI home page
American Journal of Human Genetics logoLink to American Journal of Human Genetics
. 1992 Feb;50(2):411–421.

Interethnic genetic differentiation in Africa: HLA class I antigens in The Gambia.

C E Allsopp 1, R M Harding 1, C Taylor 1, M Bunce 1, D Kwiatkowski 1, N Anstey 1, D Brewster 1, A J McMichael 1, B M Greenwood 1, A V Hill 1
PMCID: PMC1682463  PMID: 1734720

Abstract

A total of 752 individuals from The Gambia, west Africa who are representative of the major ethnic groups in the capital, Banjul, were serologically typed for HLA-A, -B, and -C antigens. Although all were typically "African" in their antigenic profiles, some marked frequency differences were found between the ethnic groups. Genetic distance comparisons with several other African populations showed that, although these west African populations clustered closely together, the positions of the various ethnic groups in The Gambia were consistent with historical and linguistic evidence of their affinities with one another and with other African populations. Despite the potential confounding effects both of selection by infectious diseases and of genetic drift caused by local differences in population structure, HLA frequencies appear to be of value in measuring inter- and intraregional population affinities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Full text

PDF
411

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Blanc M., Sanchez-Mazas A., Van Blyenburgh N. H., Sevin A., Pison G., Langaney A. Interethnic genetic differentiation: GM polymorphism in eastern Senegal. Am J Hum Genet. 1990 Feb;46(2):383–392. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bodmer J. G., Marsh S. G., Albert E. D., Bodmer W. F., Dupont B., Erlich H. A., Mach B., Mayr W. R., Parham P., Sasazuki T. Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system, 1990. Tissue Antigens. 1991 Mar;37(3):97–104. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.1991.tb01853.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cann R. L., Stoneking M., Wilson A. C. Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature. 1987 Jan 1;325(6099):31–36. doi: 10.1038/325031a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cavalli-Sforza L. L., Edwards A. W. Phylogenetic analysis. Models and estimation procedures. Am J Hum Genet. 1967 May;19(3 Pt 1):233–257. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cavalli-Sforza L. L., Piazza A., Menozzi P., Mountain J. Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Aug;85(16):6002–6006. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.6002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Excoffier L., Harding R. M., Sokal R. R., Pellegrini B., Sanchez-Mazas A. Spatial differentiation of RH and GM haplotype frequencies in Sub-Saharan Africa and its relation to linguistic affinities. Hum Biol. 1991 Jun;63(3):273–307. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hill A. V., Allsopp C. E., Kwiatkowski D., Anstey N. M., Greenwood B. M., McMichael A. J. HLA class I typing by PCR: HLA-B27 and an African B27 subtype. Lancet. 1991 Mar 16;337(8742):640–642. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)92452-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hill A. V., Allsopp C. E., Kwiatkowski D., Anstey N. M., Twumasi P., Rowe P. A., Bennett S., Brewster D., McMichael A. J., Greenwood B. M. Common west African HLA antigens are associated with protection from severe malaria. Nature. 1991 Aug 15;352(6336):595–600. doi: 10.1038/352595a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hughes A. L., Nei M. Pattern of nucleotide substitution at major histocompatibility complex class I loci reveals overdominant selection. Nature. 1988 Sep 8;335(6186):167–170. doi: 10.1038/335167a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kalidi I., Fofana Y., Rahly A. A., Bochu V., Dehay C., Gony J., Hors J. Study of HLA antigens in a population of Mali (West Africa). Tissue Antigens. 1988 Feb;31(2):98–102. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.1988.tb02070.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Klein J. Origin of major histocompatibility complex polymorphism: the trans-species hypothesis. Hum Immunol. 1987 Jul;19(3):155–162. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(87)90066-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Lee T. D., Lee A., Shi W. X. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ antigens in black North Americans. Tissue Antigens. 1991 Feb;37(2):79–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.1991.tb01849.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Nei M., Livshits G. Genetic relationships of Europeans, Asians and Africans and the origin of modern Homo sapiens. Hum Hered. 1989;39(5):276–281. doi: 10.1159/000153872. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Okoye R. C., Williams E., Alonso A., Doyle P., Awad J., Navarrete C., Jaraquemada D., Ollier W. E., Festenstein H. HLA polymorphisms in Nigerians. Tissue Antigens. 1985 Mar;25(3):142–155. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.1985.tb00429.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pagnier J., Mears J. G., Dunda-Belkhodja O., Schaefer-Rego K. E., Beldjord C., Nagel R. L., Labie D. Evidence for the multicentric origin of the sickle cell hemoglobin gene in Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Mar;81(6):1771–1773. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.6.1771. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Serjeantson S. W., Ryan D. P., Thompson A. R. The colonization of the Pacific: the story according to human leukocyte antigens. Am J Hum Genet. 1982 Nov;34(6):904–918. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wainscoat J. S., Hill A. V., Boyce A. L., Flint J., Hernandez M., Thein S. L., Old J. M., Lynch J. R., Falusi A. G., Weatherall D. J. Evolutionary relationships of human populations from an analysis of nuclear DNA polymorphisms. Nature. 1986 Feb 6;319(6053):491–493. doi: 10.1038/319491a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. du Toit E. D., MacGregor K. J., Taljaard D. G., Oudshoorn M. HLA-A, B, C, DR and DQ polymorphisms in three South African population groups: South African Negroes, Cape Coloureds and South African Caucasoids. Tissue Antigens. 1988 Mar;31(3):109–125. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.1988.tb02072.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. du Toit E. D., Taljaard D. G., Marshall J., Ritchie C., Oudshoorn M. The HLA genetic constitution of the Bushmen (San). Hum Immunol. 1990 Aug;28(4):406–415. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(90)90035-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Human Genetics are provided here courtesy of American Society of Human Genetics

RESOURCES