Abstract
Background: Variations in gene allele frequencies can contribute to differences in the prevalence of some common complex diseases among populations. Natural selection modulates the balance in allele frequencies across populations. Population differentiation (FST) can evidence environmental selection pressures. Such genetic information is limited in Puerto Ricans, the second largest Hispanic ethnic group in the US, and a group with high prevalence of chronic disease. We determined allele frequencies and population differentiation for 101 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 30 genes involved in major metabolic and disease-relevant pathways in Puerto Ricans (n = 969, ages 45-75 years) and compared them to similarly aged non-Hispanic whites (NHW) (n = 597). Results: Minor allele frequency (MAF) distributions for 45.5% of the SNPs assessed in Puerto Ricans were significantly different from those of NHW. Puerto Ricans carried risk alleles in higher frequency and protective alleles in lower frequency than NHW. Patterns of population differentiation showed that Puerto Ricans had SNPs with exceptional FST values in intronic, non-synonymous and promoter regions. NHW had exceptional FST values in intronic and promoter region SNPs only. Conclusion: These observations may serve to explain and broaden studies on the impact of gene polymorphisms on chronic diseases affecting Puerto Ricans.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 45 |
Journal | BMC Genetics |
Volume | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 14 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, Grant Number P01AG023394 and P01AG023394-S1, by contract 53-K06-5-10 from NIH and 58-1950-9-001 and 58-1950-7-707 from the US Department of Agriculture Research Service, and by NIH Heart, Lung and Blood Institute grant U 01 HL72524, Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Triglycerides and HL54776.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics
- Genetics(clinical)