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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Genotyping Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Mitochondrial Genome by Pyrosequencing
Published on: February 10, 2023
Mitochondrial DNA diversity in 17th-18th century remains from Tenerife (Canary Islands)
Nicole Maca-Meyer1, Vicente M Cabrera, Matilde Arnay
1Departamento de Genética, Universidad de La Laguna, 38271 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
Abstract:
Mitochondrial DNA sequences and restriction fragment length polymorphisms were retrieved (with >80% efficiency) from a 17th-18th century sample of 213 teeth from Tenerife. The genetic composition of this population reveals an important ethnic heterogeneity. Although the majority of detected haplotypes are of European origin, the high frequency of sub-Saharan African haplotypes (15.63%), compared to that of the present-day population (6.6%), confirms the importance of the Canary Islands in the black slave trade of that epoch. The aboriginal substrate, inferred from the U6b1 haplotypes (8.59%), has also decreased due to European input. Finally, the presence of Amerindian lineages (1.5%) reveals that the Canary Islands have also received genetic flow from America.
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