MtDNA diversity of Ghana: a forensic and phylogeographic view

Publication date: March 2012 Source:Forensic Science International: Genetics, Volume 6, Issue 2 Author(s): Liane Fendt , Alexander Röck , Bettina Zimmermann , Martin Bodner , Thorsten Thye , Frank Tschentscher , Ellis Owusu-Dabo , Tanja M.K. Göbel , Peter M. Schneider , Walther Parson West Africa is characterized by a migration history spanning more than 150,000 years. Climate changes but also political circumstances were responsible for several early but also recent population movements that shaped the West African mitochondrial landscape. The aim of the study was to establish a Ghanaian mtDNA dataset for forensic purposes and to investigate the diversity of the Ghanaian population sample with respect to surrounding populations. We sequenced full mitochondrial control regions of 193 Akan people from Ghana and excluded two apparently close maternally related individuals due to preceding kinship testing. The remaining dataset comprising 191 sequences was applied as etalon for quasi-median network analysis and was subsequently combined with 99 additional control region sequences from surrounding West African countries. All sequences were incorporated into the EMPOP database enriching the severely underrepresented African mtDNA pool. For phylogeographic considerations, the Ghanaian haplotypes were compared to those of 19 neighboring populations comprising a total number of 6198 HVS1 haplotypes. We found extensive genetic admixture between the Ghanaian lineages an...
Source: Forensic Science International: Genetics - Category: Forensic Medicine Source Type: research