Ethnicity, linguistics, and genetic diversity in native Mexicans : reconstructing the population history of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is one of the main centers of New World civilization. It represents today a large geographical area exhibiting one of the highest genetic, cultural, and archeological diversity in the Americas. Moreover, its geographic position has been a key factor for acting as a natural corridor betwe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Sandoval Mendoza, Karla
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/7236
Acceso en línea:http://www.tdx.cat/TDX-0311111-143548
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/7236
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:aspectes genètics
indis de l'Amèrica Central
aspectes genetics
indis de Mèxic
Mèxic
genètica de poblacions humans
continental genetic landscape
female lineages
genetic diversity
Mesoamerica
Native Mexican populations
mitochondrial DNA
male lineages
SNPs
Y-chromosome STRs
575
Descripción
Sumario:Mesoamerica is one of the main centers of New World civilization. It represents today a large geographical area exhibiting one of the highest genetic, cultural, and archeological diversity in the Americas. Moreover, its geographic position has been a key factor for acting as a natural corridor between North and Central-South America, thus becoming a direct witness not only of the initial and subsequent human migration waves but also of the many civilizations that flourished later on. Therefore, Mesoamerica deserves special attention in the study of American history. Following a molecular anthropological approach, this thesis evaluates the genetic diversity of a representative sample of the extant Native American gene pool within Mexico, and by constructing continental datasets, it also intends to contribute to the reconstruction of Mesoamerican history and the peopling of the Americas. For that purpose, this work focuses on the study of uniparental markers located in the human mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome, which constitutes the main part of the analyses. Additionally, autosomal STR variation, linguistic diversity, and ethnographic data were also investigated. Our results, based on both mtDNA and Y-chromosome, show a clear differentiation of the Native Mexican groups that belong to Mesoamerica, suggesting that population dynamcs occurring within this cultural area were unique during the America's colonization process and thus uniquely shaped the native Mexican genome.