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Principal component analysis of gene frequencies and the origin of Basques
Author(s) -
Calafell Francesc,
Bertranpetit Jaume
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330930205
Subject(s) - principal component analysis , component (thermodynamics) , biology , genetics , evolutionary biology , statistics , physics , mathematics , thermodynamics
The genetic peculiarity of the Basque population has long been noted. We aim to describe Basque distinctiveness in space and assess the internal Basque heterogeneity. All these aspects are relevant to the question of the origin of Basques. After a thorough literature search, a data base was created containing all the available data on gene frequencies in the Iberian Peninsula and France. Twenty‐nine systems, comprising 71 alleles, were used to carry out a principal component (PC) analysis. The results show a sharp peak in the first PC in the Basque area, which remains even when the geographic scope is widened to include western Europe. As demonstrated by “wombling” analysis, the steeper slope in the first PC is found to the east of the Basque area, along the Pyrenees. Measures of genetic heterogeneity (such as F ST values) within the Basque country, as compared to those for non‐Basques, do not show a particular internal substructuration in the Basque population. The genetic results support a scenario in which the Basques are the product of in situ differentiation around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (18,000 B . P .), in agreement with archaeological and linguistic data. Isolation from the surrounding populations has allowed the differentiation to last for millennia, but has erased the differences existing among Basques. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.