Abstract
BackgroundGuatemala is a multiethnic and multilingual country located in Central America. The main population groups separate ‘Ladinos’ (mixed Native American-African-Spanish), and Native indigenous people of Maya descent. Among the present-day Guatemalan Maya, there are more than 20 different ethnic groups separated by different languages and cultures. Genetic variation of these communities still remains largely unexplored. The principal aim of this study is to explore the genetic variability of the Maya and ‘Ladinos’ from Guatemala by means of uniparental and ancestry informative markers (AIMs).ResultsAnalyses of uniparental genetic markers indicate that Maya have a dominant Native American ancestry (mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA]: 100%; Y-chromosome: 94%). ‘Ladino’, however, show a clear gender-bias as indicated by the large European ancestry observed in the Y-chromosome (75%) compared to the mtDNA (0%). Autosomal polymorphisms (AIMs) also mirror this marked gender-bias: (i) Native American ancestry: 92% for the Maya vs. 55% for the ‘Ladino’, and (ii) European ancestry: 8% for the Maya vs. 41% for the ‘Ladino’. In addition, the impact of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade on the present-day Guatemalan population is very low (and only occurs in the ‘Ladino’; mtDNA: 9%; AIMs: 4%), in part mirroring the fact that Guatemala has a predominant orientation to the Pacific Ocean instead of a Caribbean one. Sequencing of entire Guatemalan mitogenomes has led to improved Native American phylogeny via the addition of new haplogroups that are mainly observed in Mesoamerica and/or the North of South America.ConclusionsThe data reveal the existence of a fluid gene flow in the Mesoamerican area and a predominant unidirectional flow towards South America, most likely occurring during the Pre-Classic (1800 BC-200 AD) and the Classic (200–1000 AD) Eras of the Mesoamerican chronology, coinciding with development of the most distinctive and advanced Mesoamerican civilization, the Maya. Phylogenetic features of mtDNA data also suggest a demographic scenario that is compatible with moderate local endogamy and isolation in the Maya combined with episodes of gene exchange between ethnic groups, suggesting an ethno-genesis in the Guatemalan Maya that is recent and supported on a cultural rather than a biological basis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1339-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Guatemala is a multiethnic and multilingual country located in Central America
The results of this study suggested that though some genetic variability exists between Mayan groups, there is a higher degree of homogeneity between them than when compared with other Mesoamerican populations
Mitochondrial DNA control region variation Additional file 1 reports the full mtDNA control region plus mtDNA SNPs (mtSNPs) haplotypes obtained in the present study, and provides the haplogroup classification according to the level of phylogenetic resolution obtained
Summary
Guatemala is a multiethnic and multilingual country located in Central America. The main population groups separate ‘Ladinos’ (mixed Native American-African-Spanish), and Native indigenous people of Maya descent. The main populations are the ‘Ladinos’ (~60%), a term used in Central America (deriving from ‘latino’), and especially in Guatemala, to refer to a mix of Native American and Spanish (and eventually of Africans), and the Maya or ‘Indígena’ (~40%), that constitutes the second most important group in the country. Some documentation indicate that in 1773, the population of Santiago de Los Caballeros de la Antigua Guatemala (‘the capital of Centro America’) had 30.000 people, and about 36% of them were ‘mulatos’ (admixed between Africans and Europeans or Natives), and in 1782, the ‘mulatos’ constituted 32% of a total of 13.000 inhabitants in the city of Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción [1] (the present Capital city of Guatemala) These figures could indirectly indicate the existence of an important amount of slaves in the regions. The arrival of important amounts of slaves from other neighboring countries that were more connected to the slave trade (such as Honduras and Belize) cannot be disregarded
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