Mitochondrial DNA diversity in the African American population

Genetic polymorphism along mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) defines population-specific signatures called mtDNA haplogroups. Estimation of mtDNA haplogroup distribution may be prone to errors, notably if the study sample is not drawn from a multicenter cohort. Here, we report on mtDNA diversity in a sample of African American individuals (n = 343) enrolled in a multicenter cohort. Sequencing of the hypervariable regions I and II of the D-loop control region showed that the most common mitochondrial variants are 73G, 146C, 150T, 152C, 189G, 16278T, and 16311C. In agreement with the published data, we observed 17 common mtDNA haplogroups: L0, L1, L1b, L1c, L2, L2a, L2b, L2c, L2e, L3, L3b, L3d, L3e, L3f, L3h, L3x, and L4. The most commonly observed haplogroup is L2a (19.8%), followed by L1b (10.2%). Overall, the observed mtDNA haplogroup distribution in our study is similar to those published for the African American and the African populations.