Joined: 30 Mar 2005 {Posts: 1082 } Location: New Jersey
Posted: Mon 06 Jun 2005 17:12 Post subject: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
I was wondering about admixture rates for Sicilians and Italians, so I searched Pubmed, and turned up the following study on Sicilans (I'll post more later). There are a great many Sicilian-Americans in my neck of the woods, some of whom boast of black ancestry.
Quote:
Ann Hum Genet. 1989 May;53 ( Pt 2):193-202. Related Articles, Links
Mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms in Italy. III. Population data from Sicily: a possible quantitation of maternal African ancestry.
Semino O, Torroni A, Scozzari R, Brega A, De Benedictis G, Santachiara Benerecetti AS.
Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia 'A. Buzzati-Traverso', Universita di Pavia, Italy.
mtDNA polymorphisms were studied in a sample of 90 individuals of the Sicilian population using six restriction enzymes: HpaI, BamHI, HaeII, MspI, AvaII and HincII. (1) Three new patterns, for MspI, AvaII and HincII, have been detected. (2) At least two different mutations were found to account for both the AvaII morph 3 and the AvaII morph 9 as in many other Caucasian groups so far examined. (3) Seventeen types were found; of these six are new. The frequency (54.5%) of type 1-2 (2.1.1.1.1.2) is lower than in the rest of Italy whereas those of type 6-2 (2.1.2.1.1.2) (10.0%) and type 18-2 (2.3.1.4.9*.2) (12.2%) lie at the upper level of the Italian range. The 18-derivative, type 57-2 (2.3.1.4.13*.2), which is consistently found in all Italian samples, is present also among Sicilians with an incidence of 2.2%. (4) Of particular interest is that the HpaI-3/AvaII-3 complex, which is unique to groups of African ancestry, was found in Sicily at a frequency of 4.4%. For the first time an estimate of the amount of gene flow from Blacks to the Sicilian gene pool could be obtained.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Sat 11 Jun 2005 16:09 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
William wrote:
(4) Of particular interest is that the HpaI-3/AvaII-3 complex, which is unique to groups of African ancestry, was found in Sicily at a frequency of 4.4%. For the first time an estimate of the amount of gene flow from Blacks to the Sicilian gene pool could be obtained.
PMID: 2480742 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Just be cautions about the meaning of African ancestry (At least in Africa.
itself). African does not means the same as Black because there are people of Arab and Caucasian ancestry in the North of Africa as well, and also a lot of admixture in all the band that goes from Gibraltar, to Egypt and South to Ethiopy. Also you find Indonesian types in Madagascar. And Pigmies and Koishan peoples in Southern Africa.
Recent migrations have left millions of Whites, Indians, Middle Easteners and East Asians in Africa as well.
Freddy Mercury was African, for example, and I remember tennis player Byron Black from Zimbawe. He was blond and blue eyed.
Posted: Sat 11 Jun 2005 17:52 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
oevega wrote:
Just be cautions about the meaning of African ancestry (At least in Africa itself). African does not means the same as Black because there are people of Arab and Caucasian ancestry in the North of Africa as well, and also a lot of admixture in all the band that goes from Gibraltar, to Egypt and South to Ethiopy. ...
In the context of molecular anthropology, they are talking about ancestry-informative markers that are found in nearly all native modern sub-Saharan Africans and that are nearly unknown in native modern Europeans. That traces of such markers can be found in alien populations is precisely how one measures historical migrations and gene flow.
Consider a visible analogy. Virtually no native Europeans have "peppercorn" hair and virtually no native Khoisan have straight hair. The finding of a very few Khoisan who have straight hair suggests that there was gene flow from European settlers into the Khoisan population. To say that one cannot estimate the extent of this gene flow by counting the fraction of Khoisan with straight hair, "because there was gene flow," misses the point.
Joined: 30 Mar 2005 {Posts: 1082 } Location: New Jersey
Posted: Mon 13 Jun 2005 20:11 Post subject: E-mail from dr. Semino
Quote:
Just be cautions about the meaning of African ancestry (At least in Africa. . .
Clearly, the above study refers to sub-Saharan admixture, since it says the following: "For the first time an estimate of the amount of gene flow from Blacks to the Sicilian gene pool could be obtained."
I e-mailed Ornella Semino, the principal researcher in this study, for more information. Here is my original e-mail:
Quote:
Dear Dr. Semino,
I am researching Sicily and all the various groups who have settled there and contributed to its population and genetic makeup. I have come across a study you were involved in which made the claim that 4.4% of the sample of Sicilians studied had Black African maternal genetic material (restriction enzymes). How does this relate to the classic sub-Saharan "L" haplogroups? And do you perhaps know of any more studies done on other Italians that have found similar results?
And here is Dr. Semino's reply:
Quote:
YES. Among our Sicilian samples (N= 91), from differnt parts of the island we found 4 subjects carrying the HpaI-3 (equivalent to the +3592HpaI) AvaII-3 association corresponding to L1 or L2 haplogroups.
In Apulia, De Benedictis et al. (see the reference) observed these African types at a frequency of 3.4%.
De Benedictis G, Rose G, Passarino G, Quagliariello C. Restriction fragment length polymorphism of human mitochondrial DNA in a sample population from Apulia (southern Italy). Ann Hum Genet. 1989 Oct;53 ( Pt 4):311-8.
Posted: Fri 30 Sep 2005 17:27 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
oevega wrote:
William wrote:
(4) Of particular interest is that the HpaI-3/AvaII-3 complex, which is unique to groups of African ancestry, was found in Sicily at a frequency of 4.4%. For the first time an estimate of the amount of gene flow from Blacks to the Sicilian gene pool could be obtained.
PMID: 2480742 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Just be cautions about the meaning of African ancestry (At least in Africa.
itself). African does not means the same as Black because there are people of Arab and Caucasian ancestry in the North of Africa as well, and also a lot of admixture in all the band that goes from Gibraltar, to Egypt and South to Ethiopy. Also you find Indonesian types in Madagascar. And Pigmies and Koishan peoples in Southern Africa.
Recent migrations have left millions of Whites, Indians, Middle Easteners and East Asians in Africa as well.
Freddy Mercury was African, for example, and I remember tennis player Byron Black from Zimbawe. He was blond and blue eyed.
Regards,
Omar Vega
African most certainly does refer to Black or indiginous Africans. Whites, Arabs and Indians born on the continent are not African people. The Khoisan peoples of southern Africa and the so called "Pygmies" of central Africa are clearly Black African peoples. I'm from Zambia, in African countries Whites are classified as 'Europeans' and Indians as 'Asians'.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Fri 30 Sep 2005 17:52 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
African_Prince wrote:
oevega wrote:
William wrote:
(4) Of particular interest is that the HpaI-3/AvaII-3 complex, which is unique to groups of African ancestry, was found in Sicily at a frequency of 4.4%. For the first time an estimate of the amount of gene flow from Blacks to the Sicilian gene pool could be obtained.
PMID: 2480742 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Just be cautions about the meaning of African ancestry (At least in Africa.
itself). African does not means the same as Black because there are people of Arab and Caucasian ancestry in the North of Africa as well, and also a lot of admixture in all the band that goes from Gibraltar, to Egypt and South to Ethiopy. Also you find Indonesian types in Madagascar. And Pigmies and Koishan peoples in Southern Africa.
Recent migrations have left millions of Whites, Indians, Middle Easteners and East Asians in Africa as well.
Freddy Mercury was African, for example, and I remember tennis player Byron Black from Zimbawe. He was blond and blue eyed.
Regards,
Omar Vega
African most certainly does refer to Black or indiginous Africans. Whites, Arabs and Indians born on the continent are not African people. The Khoisan peoples of southern Africa and the so called "Pygmies" of central Africa are clearly Black African peoples. I'm from Zambia, in African countries Whites are classified as 'Europeans' and Indians as 'Asians'.
Hi,
Just to point out that Northern Africans are racially distinct than Africans south of the Sahara.
Actually, there are many "races" in Africa. Africa is not Black-only.
The term African is geographic and there are several groups of people native to the continent that can claim they are the natives. Not only the Bantu people.
Posted: Fri 30 Sep 2005 18:12 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
oevega wrote:
African_Prince wrote:
African most certainly does refer to Black or indiginous Africans.
Just to point out that Northern Africans are racially distinct than Africans south of the Sahara.
I am not sure about the "racially" part, but there is certainly far more genetic variation among the multitude of subSaharan populations than among everyone else on earth combined (since all non-subSaharan-Africans descend from the small band that crossed the traits of Bab-El-Mandeb about 75 kya).
Nevertheless, I think that the admixture studies that we discuss here attempt to trace gene flow due to the slave trade. And so, these studies specifically target genes originating with the Bantu-speaking peoples of west Africa.
It is indisputable that Charlize Theron, say, is "African" in that she was born in subSaharan Africa, as were her parents and grandparents. But the genes we are interested in are those that were exported in the bodies of slaves. Hence, they exclude Africans of European descent as well as Ethiopians, Khoisan, Nubians, Tuaregs, Berbers, and the many other populations who were not part of the slave trade.
Posted: Sat 01 Oct 2005 17:51 Post subject: Re: Black African admixture in Sicilians...
African_Prince wrote:
African most certainly does refer to Black or indiginous Africans. Whites, Arabs and Indians born on the continent are not African people. The Khoisan peoples of southern Africa and the so called "Pygmies" of central Africa are clearly Black African peoples. I'm from Zambia, in African countries Whites are classified as 'Europeans' and Indians as 'Asians'.
African refers to any person from Africa. African indifgenous refers to any population originaly native to Africa. Black refers to any peoples that were imposed a racial sterotype by Europeans and did not apply to all indigenous Africans. Berbers may be a back migration from other parts, but are the ancestries of other people such as Ethiopians (along with indigenous ancestry) Khoisan are not classified as Black, but as Colored. Africa itself is a foreign term imposed such that those born before Roman intrusion were not truly African, etc, etc, etc. I know plenty of Indo-Africans that consider themselves African and not Asian.
'
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