How natural selection shapes genetic differentiation in the MHC region: A case study with Native Americans.

ABSTRACT: The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) loci are extremely well documented targets of balancing selection, yet few studies have explored how selection affects population differentiation at these loci. In the present study we investigate genetic differentiation at HLA genes by comparing differentiation at microsatellites distributed genomewide to those in the MHC region. Our study uses a sample of 494 individuals from 30 human populations, 28 of which are Native Americans, all of whom were typed for genomewide and MHC region microsatellites. We find greater differentiation in the MHC than in the remainder of the genome (F_ST-MHC = 0.130 and F_ST-Genomic = 0.087), and use a permutation approach to show that this difference is statistically significant, and not accounted for by

SUBMITTER: Nunes K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8217218 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature