Viera Viera, Jorge

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The origins of the African ancestry in the Puerto Rican population according to restriction analysis of the mitochondrial DNA
(2006) Viera Viera, Jorge; Martínez Cruzado, Juan C.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Montalvo Rodríguez, Rafael; Ríos Velázquez, Carlos; Department of Biology; Parés Matos, Elsie I.
The matrilineal genetic composition of 79 Puerto Rican samples with proven Sub-Saharan African ancestry was examined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The resulting data were combined with published RFLP and control region sequence information of 1931 samples with Sub-Saharan African ancestry from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Brazil, and various African populations to explore the extent to which different regions in Africa have contributed to the present day composition of Puerto Rican maternal lineages. The results show that almost 60% of the Sub-Saharan African haplogroups present in the island are exclusive of or more common in the West African populations, and 26.5% in the West-Central African region. These results are in complete agreement with historical literature that strongly limits the participation of eastern African populations during the Atlantic slave trade, while supporting the western and west-central contributions.