Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Diversity in a Sedentary Population from Egypt

2004/01/01 by Alain Stevanovitch, André Gilles, Eric Bouzaïd +6 · 9 citations
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Allele #Biology #Demography #Evolutionary biology #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Forensic and Genetic Research #Gene #Genetic diversity #Genetics #Haplogroup #Haplotype #Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup #Mitochondrial DNA #Population #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #mtDNA control region

paper · doi:10.1046/j.1529-8817.2003.00057.x

openalex publication_date 2004/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of 58 individuals from Upper Egypt, more than half (34 individuals) from Gurna, whose population has an ancient cultural history, were studied by sequencing the control-region and screening diagnostic RFLP markers. This sedentary population presented similarities to the Ethiopian population by the L1 and L2 macrohaplogroup frequency (20.6%), by the West Eurasian component (defined by haplogroups H to K and T to X) and particularly by a high frequency (17.6%) of haplogroup M1. We statistically and phylogenetically analysed and compared the Gurna population with other Egyptian, Near East and sub-Saharan Africa populations; AMOVA and Minimum Spanning Network analysis showed that the Gurna population was not isolated from neighbouring populations. Our results suggest that the Gurna population has conserved the trace of an ancestral genetic structure from an ancestral East African population, characterized by a high M1 haplogroup frequency. The current structure of the Egyptian population may be the result of further influence of neighbouring populations on this ancestral population.

Citations

• Mitochondrial genome variation and the origin of modern humans
• ESTIMATINGF-STATISTICS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POPULATION STRUCTURE
• mtDNA Variation in the South African Kung and Khwe—and Their Genetic Relationships to Other African Populations
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• Classification of European mtDNAs From an Analysis of Three European Populations
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Cited by

• Near Eastern Neolithic genetic input in a small oasis of the Egyptian Western Desert
• On the origin of Iberomaurusians: new data based on ancient mitochondrial DNA and phylogenetic analysis of Afalou and Taforalt populations
• Ethiopian Mitochondrial DNA Heritage: Tracking Gene Flow Across and Around the Gate of Tears
• mtDNA variation in East Africa unravels the history of afro‐asiatic groups
• Ancient Local Evolution of African mtDNA Haplogroups in Tunisian Berber Populations
• Disuniting Uniformity: A Pied Cladistic Canvas of mtDNA Haplogroup H in Eurasia
• Haplogroup I (mtDNA) [wikipedia]
• Haplogroup L3 [wikipedia]
• Somalis [wikipedia]