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Gene admixture in the Costa Rican population.

B Morera¹, R Barrantes, R Marin-Rojas

¹Unitat de Biologia Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salut i de la Vida, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. rbt@cariari.ucr.ac.cr

Annals of Human Genetics

|January 31, 2003

Summary

Costa Rica

Area of Science:

Population Genetics
Human Ancestry

Background:

The Costa Rican population is considered a mix of diverse ancestral groups.
Understanding the extent of genetic admixture since Spanish colonization is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify the European, Amerindian, and African ancestral proportions in the Costa Rican population.
To analyze regional variations in genetic admixture across the country.

Main Methods:

Analysis of 11 classic genetic markers in 2196 individuals from five regions.
Application of a maximum likelihood approach and principal component (PC) analysis.

Main Results:

The total population comprises 61% European, 30% Amerindian, and 9% African ancestry.

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Regional variations show higher European ancestry in the North and Central regions.

Increased Amerindian ancestry in the South and African ancestry in coastal areas were observed.

Conclusions:

The Costa Rican population is confirmed as trihybrid, reflecting a mix of European, Amerindian, and African gene flow.
The specific admixture proportions differentiate Costa Rica from other Latin American populations.