Temporal evolution of the ABO allele frequencies in the Canary Islands: the impact of the European colonization

Abstract

The indigenous Canary Islands population suffered a strong cultural and genetic impact when they were colonized by Europeans in the fifteenth century. The molecular analysis of the ABO blood group gene on aboriginal and seventeenth to eighteenth century remains confirms the demographic history of the islands depicted by previous archaeological, anthropological, and genetic studies. ABO allele frequencies clearly related Canarian aborigines with North African Berber populations, its most probable source of origin, and is far related to Iberian and to the current population of the archipelago. The historical sample shows a congruent intermediate position testifying already a strong European influence that would go in augment since then to present times, affecting all the islands with the important exception of La Gomera.