Y chromosome haplotypes in the Madeira archipelago population

Abstract

The archipelago of Madeira consists of two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, with 250,000 and 5000 inhabitants, respectively. The islands were initially populated in the 15th century by the Portuguese, but suffered many different influences throughout the centuries. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Madeira was part of the Slave Route, and received many of them for sugar cane plantations. In the early 19th century, there was some British influence with entire families settling in the island. Known for its favourable climate, people from different origins came to the islands to recover from diseases such as tuberculosis. In the 20th century, tourism certainly contributed to the settling of new waves of Europeans. Unlike Madeira, Porto Santo was exposed to attacks by North African pirates during the early colonisation period. Here, we present a survey on the genetics of the present day Madeira population using Y STRs (DYS19, DYS389I and II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393) and 11 Y-chromosomal biallelic polymorphisms defining 10 haplogroups. Our aim is to verify the different genetic male input in the present day population of these islands.