Integrating genetic, historical, and demographic evidence to reconstruct Argentina's matrilineal ancestry

The Argentine population reflects a history of asymmetric admixture, a process particularly evident in uniparental markers. Consequently, the maternal lineage retains a record of the three primary ancestral origins: Native American, Eurasian, and African. The main objective of this study was to conduct an integrated comparative analysis to determine and assess the geographic distribution of mitochondrial haplogroups associated with these three ancestral origins across Argentina. This was achieved through an integrative approach that combined genetic data with census records and published literature. A dataset comprising 7,431 haplogroups analyzed at the provincial level was assembled from the literature. The overall maternal genetic composition obtained for the Argentine was 75% Native American, 22% Eurasian, and 3% African. However, significant regional and interprovincial heterogeneity were observed, which complicates broad genetic inferences. This work highlights the value of matrilineal markers in admixed societies for shedding light on population history and underscores the critical need to rigorously contextualize genetic results, given Argentina´s demographic and historical complexity.