A genome-wide survey does not show the genetic distinctiveness of Basques

Laayouni, Hafid, 1968-; Calafell i Majó, Francesc; Bertranpetit, Jaume, 1952-

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00439-010-0798-3

A genome-wide survey does not show the genetic distinctiveness of Basques

Citation

Laayouni H, Calafell F, Bertranpetit J. A genome-wide survey does not show the genetic distinctiveness of Basques. Hum Genet. 2010;127(4):455-8. DOI: 10.1007/s00439-010-0798-3

Abstract

Basques are a cultural isolate, and, according to mainly allele frequencies of classical polymorphisms, also a genetic isolate. We investigated the differentiation of Spanish Basques from the rest of Iberian populations by means of a dense, genome-wide SNP array. We found that F ST distances between Spanish Basques and other populations were similar to those between pairs of non-Basque populations. The same result is found in a PCA of individuals, showing a general distinction between Iberians and other South Europeans independently of being Basques. Pathogen-mediated natural selection may be responsible for the high differentiation previously reported for Basques at very specific genes such as ABO, RH, and HLA. Thus, Basques cannot be considered a genetic outlier under a general genome scope and interpretations on their origin may have to be revised.