Population Genetic Analysis of the Genes APOE, APOB (3′VNTR) and ACE in Some Black and Amerindian Communities from Colombia

A population genetic study was carried out with the APOE, APOB and ACE loci in 17 Colombian human populations. Ten of them were Amerindian communities coming from the northeastern part of Colombia, Pacific region, Eastern Plains and Amazonia. Six were black populations from Providence Island, Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Finally, the Mestizo population of Bogota was studied as well. The APOE and ACE loci were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, whereas the APOB locus was not studied in all populations. The genetic heterogeneity was substantially greater among the Amerindian populations (G(ST) = 0.059) than in the Afrocolombian populations (G(ST) = 0.009). Also the gene flow population pair estimates were so much higher among the Afrocolombian populations (Nm = 49.08 +/- 43.07) than among Amerindian populations (Nm = 9.66 +/- 18.04). Different phylogenetic and multivariant analyses showed that the Amerindian populations analyzed were clustered in three different arrays: one constituted by the Colombian northeastern and Pacific populations, the second one by the two Amazon populations (Coreguaje and Nukak) and the last one by the Yuco (the unique Caribbe-speaking population among those studied). The latter population was highly divergent from a genetic point of view from the remainder Amerindian populations studied. By using the Mantel test, the existence of a positive and significant correlation between the genetic and geographical distances found among Amerindian populations was demonstrated. This fact was not observed among the Afrocolombian populations. Nevertheless, an isolation-by-distance Slatkin analysis test did not show a significant clear structure of this special pattern among the Indian tribes studied.