Analysis of admixture in Native American populations from Colombia

Abstract

The current Colombian population is the result of genetic admixture between Native Americans, Europeans and Africans. Around 82% of the population is considered admixed, 15% are Afro-Colombians and just 3% are Native Americans. There are about 81 native groups in Colombia. In this work, a sample of 121 non-related individuals from three Native American groups were analysed for 46 ancestry informative InDel markers. One of these groups was the Pijaos that, because of their combative nature, was almost exterminated during European conquest and colonial times. The other two studied groups belong to communities that have been less subjected to admixture with non-Natives. The Barí, known as “Motilones” or “Dobukubi”, is a Native group that inhabits the Serranía del Perija, Norte de Santander, since pre-Colombian times. They still keep their original language, the Barí-ara, which belongs to the Chibcha family. We have also studied a sample of Natives from Guainía, formed by different groups that migrated from the Amazonia and Orinoquian regions, including the Desana, Curripaco, Puinave, Cubeo, Guaunano and Tucano, all belonging to Tucano and Arawak linguistic groups. This study allow determining genotypic and allelic frequencies for 46 ancestry informative InDels and to estimate Native American, European and African admixture proportions in three Colombian native communities. The results showed a very low European and African admixture in the Barí and Guainia native groups in contrast to the high levels of admixture presented by the Pijao.