Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Nayarit, Mexico: Tepic and rural Nayarit

Abstract

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 161 Mexicans from the state of Nayarit living in Tepic (N = 97) and rural communities (N = 64), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We find that the ten most frequent haplotypes found in the state of Nayarit include eight Native American and two European haplotypes. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in the state of Nayarit are Native American (50.79 ± 5.03% by ML; 42.24% of Native American haplotypes) and European (37.04 ± 6.21% by ML; 35.72% of European haplotypes), while African genetic component is less apparent but relatively high (12.17 ± 2.50% by ML; 13.36% of African haplotypes).

Keywords: Admixture; HLA; Immunogenetics; Nayarit; Population genetics.