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A strategy for the selection of transcribed sequences in the Xq28 region.

As an essential step towards an exhaustive analysis of the coding potential of large regions of the genome, we have developed a protocol allowing the rapid isolation of transcripts defined by overlapping clone libraries. The method is based on the hybridisation of cDNA inserts, which had been amplified by PCR from cDNA libraries, to biotinylated DNA from cosmids or cosmid pools. Nonspecific hybrids are then removed, the selected cDNAs are eluted and reamplified by PCR. Using a cosmid containing part of the FMR-1 gene as test, we were able to demonstrate an eighty thousand fold enrichment of cDNAs for this gene after two rounds of selection-amplification. The technique was applied to the analysis of transcripts from two cosmid contigs, together encompassing a region of 900 kb in Xq28. These experiments have thus far resulted in the identification of 81 cDNA clones, of which 54 clones were mapped back to the cosmid contigs. Of the 54 clones placed on the contig maps, 12 cDNA clones can be shown to belong to two genes which have been previously reported (L1CAM and QM).

Base Sequence↗

Phylogeography and genetic structure of Hibiscus tiliaceus--speciation of a pantropical plant with sea-drifted seeds.

Phylogenetic relationships and the spatial genetic structure of a pantropical plant with sea-drifted seeds, Hibiscus tiliaceus L., and its allied species were investigated. The combined distribution range of these species is over almost the entire littoral area of the tropics worldwide, which might result from the dispersal of their sea-drifted seeds and from recurrent speciation in local populations. A phylogenetic tree constructed using the nucleotide sequences of a c. 7500-bp portion of chloroplast DNA suggested the possibility that recurrent speciation from H. tiliaceus has given rise to all of its allied species. Three major sequence haplotypes of H. tiliaceus had wide and overlapping distributions throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions. This distribution pattern was also confirmed by PCR-SSCP (polymerase chain reaction amplification with single-strand conformation polymorphism) and PCR-SSP (PCR amplification with sequence specific primers) analyses performed on more than 1100 samples from 65 populations worldwide. Statistical analysis using F(ST) and analysis of molecular variance did not show significant genetic differentiation among the H. tiliaceus populations in the three oceanic regions. The results reported here suggested substantial gene flow occurred between populations in the different oceanic regions due to sea-drifted seeds. A strong genetic difference between the Pacific and Atlantic populations of Hibiscus pernambucensis Arruda was observed, which indicates that gene flow in this species between the two regions has been prevented. The wide and dominant distribution of a haplotype shared by H. pernambucensis and H. tiliaceus in the Atlantic region suggests significant introgression between the two species in this region.

DNA, Chloroplast↗

High-frequency genetic recombination and reactivation of orthopoxviruses from DNA fragments transfected into leporipoxvirus-infected cells.

Poxvirus DNA is not infectious because establishing an infection requires the activities of enzymes packaged in the virion. This barrier can be overcome by transfecting virus DNA into cells previously infected with another poxvirus, since the resident virus can provide the trans-acting systems needed to reactivate transfected DNA. In this study we show that cells infected with a leporipoxvirus, Shope fibroma virus (SFV), can reactivate vaccinia virus DNA. Similar heterologous packaging systems which used fowlpox-infected cells to reactivate vaccinia virus have been described, but SFV-infected cells promoted a far more efficient reaction that can produce virus titers exceeding 10(6) PFU/ micro g of transfected DNA. SFV-promoted reactions also exploit the hyperrecombinogenic systems previously characterized in SFV-infected cells, and these coupled recombination and reactivation reactions could be used to delete nonessential regions of the vaccinia virus genome and to reconstruct vaccinia virus from overlapping DNA fragments. SFV-catalyzed recombination reactions need only two 18- to 20-bp homologies to target PCR amplicons to restriction enzyme-cut vaccinia virus vectors, and this reaction feature was used to rapidly clone and express a gene encoding fluorescent green protein without the need for plaque purification or selectable markers. The ability of SFV-infected cells to reactivate fragments of vaccinia virus was ultimately limited by the number of recombinational exchanges required and one cannot reconstruct vaccinia virus from multiple PCR fragments spanning essential portions of the genome. These observations suggest that recombination is an integral part of poxvirus reactivation reactions and provide a useful new technique for altering the structure of poxvirus genomes.

Animals↗

[Genetic variation of carrion and hooded crows and their hybrids based on RAPD-PCR data].

RAPD-PCR analysis of genetic variability of carrion crows, hooded crows and their phenotypic hybrids from the zones of overlap of their areals and hybridization of parental forms in Siberia has been carried out. According to RAPD variability the following parameters were estimated for both species and their hybrids: genetical distances (DN), polymorphism (P95), mean expected heterozygosity (H(e)), gene fixation coefficient (Fst) and the portion of interpopulation differentiation (Gst). It was shown that the rate of genetic variability in carrion crows and hooded crows is less than in the hybrids. It turned out that the hybrids were genetically closer to each other (DN = 0.295) than to both parental species (DN = 0.441 and 0.397 with C. corone and C. cornix, correspondingly). The studied individuals of C. cornix show the minimal level of heterozygosity and polymorphism (H(e) = 0.12 and P95 = = 27.8%) in comparison with C. corone and the crows of hybrid zone (H(e) = 0.18 and 0.20; P95 = 42.6% and 50.4%, correspondingly). Right's indexes of inbreeding (Fst = 0.285) and population spliting (Gst = 0.352) indicate low genetic variability in all the analysed birds. Nevertheless UPGMA and NJ dendrogrammes differentiate the individuals from the areals of carrion crows, hooded crows and from hybrid zone to different clusters. Our data correlate with molecular-genetic investigations of Corvidae carried out with other methods, and do not contradict the conception of carrion crows and hooded crows as semispecies in the context of the conception of overspecies.

Animals↗

[Somatic mutations of PIG-A gene in Chinese patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the somatic mutations of PIG-A gene in Chinese patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and to compare these mutations with those in non-Chinese PNH patients. METHODS: Seven overlapping regions of PIG-A cDNA from granulocytes of 4 PNH patients were amplified by RT-PCR. The mutant segments were identified by HA/SSCP and then cloned and sequenced. RESULTS: In 4 Chinese PNH patients five small PIG-A mutations were found, including four single base substitutions (resulting in 1 consense mutations and 3 missense mutations) and one single base deletion causing a frameshift). These mutations were all different and distributed in different locations of the gene. CONCLUSION: The PIG-A mutations in our patients occurred at random sites and no mutation hot spot was found. Compared with Japanese, British, American and Tai patients, Chinese patients seem to have more single base substitutions and less frameshift. The pattern of mutations in our patients is similar to that in Japanese patients but different from that in other races. These suggest that mutagens might be different in the pathogenesis of PNH in different regions.

Asian People↗

The phosphoglycerate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase genes from the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus overlap by 8-bp. Isolation, sequencing of the genes and expression in Escherichia coli.

The overlapping genes encoding phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GraP-DH) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus have been cloned and sequenced. PCR primers based on highly conserved regions of different PGK sequences were used to isolate an internal region of the pgk gene. This was then used to screen a genomic library to isolate the full length pgk gene. A 2.5-kb BglII fragment of S. solfataricus DNA contained both the pgk gene and the gap gene immediately downstream. Unexpectedly, the pgk and gap genes were found to overlap by 8 bp, with the initiation codon of the gap gene preceding the termination codon of the pgk gene. Evidence that the two genes are co-transcribed was obtained by Northern-blot analysis. The S. solfataricus PGK amino acid sequence shows 43% and 45% identity to the PGK sequences of the Archaea Methanobacterium bryantii and Methanothermus fervidus, respectively. High level expression of the S. solfataricus PGK and GraP-DH in Escherichia coli was achieved, with heat treatment at 80 degrees C proving an effective first step in the purification of these recombinant enzymes from extracts of the E. coli host. Purified recombinant S. solfataricus PGK and GraP-DH showed half lives of 39 min and 17 h, respectively, at 80 degrees C. Unlike bacterial GraP-DH enzymes, S. solfataricus GraP-DH was able to use both NAD+ and NADP+ as cofactors, but exhibited a marked preference for NADP+.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Isolation and characterization of a human homologue of the latrophilin gene from a region of 1p31.1 implicated in breast cancer.

We have identified a region of chromosome 1p31.1 that shows high frequency loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in human breast cancer. This region forms part of a 7 Mb YAC/BAC contig. In order to identify candidate sequences, mutation of which might contribute to the development of disease, we have carried out mapping studies of ESTs localized to 1p31.1. This analysis, coupled with library screening and a modified 5' RACE-PCR strategy, resulted in the identification and characterization of a novel gene (LPHH1) which is located adjacent to the smallest region of overlapping loss (SRO) seen in tumours. The 4209 bp open reading frame of the 7 kb LPHH1 transcript encodes a peptide which shows approximately 65% identity to rat latrophilin, a G-coupled, seven span transmembrane protein, which binds alpha-latrotoxin. In the human sequence, whilst conservation of the transmembrane domain is high, the intra- and extracellular domains show two regions of variable structure, which are presumably generated by alternative splicing. Surprisingly, while expression of the rat gene is tightly restricted to neurological and perhaps some endocrine cells, the human sequence appears to be expressed very widely in all normal tissues tested. Northern and RT-PCR analysis of a panel of tumour cell lines showed that LPHH1 expression was variable, apparently elevated in some lines and absent or markedly reduced in others. Furthermore, characterization of the range of transcripts encoded in a breast tumour cell line, compared to normal breast, suggested that gene product variability was higher in the tumour.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Algorithms and software for support of gene identification experiments.

MOTIVATION: Gene annotation is the final goal of gene prediction algorithms. However, these algorithms frequently make mistakes and therefore the use of gene predictions for sequence annotation is hardly possible. As a result, biologists are forced to conduct time-consuming gene identification experiments by designing appropriate PCR primers to test cDNA libraries or applying RT-PCR, exon trapping/amplification, or other techniques. This process frequently amounts to 'guessing' PCR primers on top of unreliable gene predictions and frequently leads to wasting of experimental efforts. RESULTS: The present paper proposes a simple and reliable algorithm for experimental gene identification which bypasses the unreliable gene prediction step. Studies of the performance of the algorithm on a sample of human genes indicate that an experimental protocol based on the algorithm's predictions achieves an accurate gene identification with relatively few PCR primers. Predictions of PCR primers may be used for exon amplification in preliminary mutation analysis during an attempt to identify a gene responsible for a disease. We propose a simple approach to find a short region from a genomic sequence that with high probability overlaps with some exon of the gene. The algorithm is enhanced to find one or more segments that are probably contained in the translated region of the gene and can be used as PCR primers to select appropriate clones in cDNA libraries by selective amplification. The algorithm is further extended to locate a set of PCR primers that uniformly cover all translated regions and can be used for RT-PCR and further sequencing of (unknown) mRNA.

Algorithms↗

Effects of L-carnitine and its acetyl and propionyl esters on ATP and PCr levels of isolated rat hearts perfused without fatty acids and investigated by means of 31P-NMR spectroscopy.

31P-NMR in vivo spectroscopy is a non-invasive and non-hazardous technique which investigates chemical composition and metabolism of living objects, for example by determining phosphocreatine (PCr) and ATP concentrations. In the present study we investigated the influence of L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine and propionyl-L-carnitine on the energetic state of the Langendorff rat heart subjected to an ischemic period of 20 min followed by a reperfusion period of 60 min. To avoid an overlapping of the effects of fatty acids and glucose, the hearts were perfused with a Tyrode solution containing no fatty acids. Ischemia causes a rapid decrease in the PCr signal, followed by a decrease in the ATP signal after a prolonged period of ischemia. At the same time, a drastic increase in the Pi signal was observed. A partial recovery of the ATP and PCr signals was observed in the reperfusion period. With L-carnitine a markedly improved recovery of the high energy phosphates (e.g. increased PCr/P ratios) was found. With acetyl-L-carnitine this effect was enhanced in the first postischemic phase. It was followed, however, by a more rapid decrease in the PCr/Pi ratio in the late reperfusion period. The effect of propionyl-L-carnitine was not significantly improved in the first minutes of the reperfusion period, but during the whole reperfusion phase a stabilization of the PCr/Pi ratio was observed. Intracellular pH can be calculated from determination of the Pi-chemical shift. This shows that L-carnitine and its derivatives have a protective effect against intracellular pH decrease during ischemia. L-carnitine improves the energetic state of the heart, which leads to increased ischemia tolerance. Hearts under L-carnitine were able to tolerate up to four ischemia-reperfusion periods in succession, whereas the controls were not able to do so. These NMR results confirm the hypothesis that L-carnitine and its esters have a protective effect in the reperfusion period of the ischemic rat heart. This could be of importance for the treatment of ischemic cardiac diseases.

Acetylcarnitine↗

Establishment of sequence-tagged sites on 15q11-q13 by Alu-vector PCR cloning of YAC-generated fragments.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is caused by the loss of function of undefined gene(s) on human chromosome 15. The majority of subjects have deletions involving maternally-derived chromosome 15q11-q13, and the shortest region of deletion overlap (SRO) has been localized to the region between D15S10 and D15S113. In this study, yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs), 6G-D4, 9H-D2 and 37D-F9, mapping within the AS SRO, were isolated from the ICI YAC library. Alu-vector PCR products were amplified from the YACs and from YACs A229A2 and A33F10 which had been obtained from the St. Louis YAC library. The PCR products were cloned and sequenced, and three new sequence-tagged sites were generated within the AS SRO, facilitating the characterization of gene(s) involved in the Angelman syndrome.

Angelman Syndrome↗

Automated DNA profiling employing multiplex amplification of short tandem repeat loci.

We have employed automated fluorescence-based technology to detect amplified tri-, tetra-, and pentanucleotide short tandem repeat (STR) loci electrophoresed on denaturing polyacrylamide sequencing gels. The system described incorporates an internal size standard in each sample, allowing the STR-PCR products to be sized automatically with a high degree of precision. By utilizing different fluorescent dye markers for loci that have overlapping allele size ranges, we have developed three multiplex STR systems containing a total of 14 different loci. These multiplex systems were then used to evaluate the usefulness of the 14 loci for the identification of individuals. Allele frequency data were collected from a minimum of 50 individuals from each of three different racial groups: Caucasians, Afro-Caribbeans, and Asians. Of the resulting 42 locus population sets, deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibria was detected in only the STR HUMCYARO3-Caucasian data. The probabilities of two unrelated individuals matching by chance (pM) at all 14 loci in the three multiplex reactions was < 1 x 10(14). The combination of multiplex STR-PCR and automatic fluorescence-based detection is thus a rapid and powerful technique for individual identification.

Autoanalysis↗

Gene2Oligo: oligonucleotide design for in vitro gene synthesis.

There is substantial interest in implementing a bioinformatics tool that allows the design of oligonucleotides to support the development of in vitro gene synthesis. Current protocols to make long synthetic DNA molecules rely on the in vitro assembly of a set of short oligonucleotides, either by ligase chain reaction (LCR) or by assembly PCR. Ideally, such oligonucleotides should represent both strands of the final DNA molecule. They should be adjacent on the same strand and overlap the complementary oligonucleotides from the second strand to ensure good hybridization during assembly. This implies that the thermodynamic properties of each oligonucleotide have to be consistent across the set. Furthermore, any given oligonucleotide has to be totally specific to its target to avoid the creation of incorrectly assembled sequences. We have developed Gene2Oligo (http://berry.engin.umich.edu/gene2oligo/), a web-based tool that divides a long input DNA sequence into a set of adjacent oligonucleotides representing both DNA strands. The length of the oligonucleotides is dynamically optimized to ensure both the specificity and the uniform melting temperatures necessary for in vitro gene synthesis. We have successfully designed and used a set of oligonucleotides to synthesize the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome b5 by using both LCR and assembly PCR.

Algorithms↗

Gene expression of insulin-like growth factor-I receptor and p53 suppressor during zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryogenesis.

In vertebrates insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) regulate important cellular activities involving proliferation, differentiation, and antiapoptosis and their biological activities are mediated through the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR). To understand the functions of IGF-IR in zebrafish embryogenesis, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cloning technique was applied to isolate the IGF-IR gene. A 5'-truncated 3285-nucleotide zebrafish IGF-IR sequence was assembled from 3 overlapping clones. This contained a partial coding region of 1550 nucleotides and a 1735-nucleotide 3' untranslated region. The deduced 515 amino acid residues included the conserved kinase domain and shared 60.9%, 61.1%, and 59.9% homology to human, mouse, and frog, respectively. To understand the relationship of IGF-IR with p53 suppressor gene during embryogenesis, expression of both genes was analyzed in parallel by semicompetitive reverse transcriptase PCR and whole-mount in situ hybridization. This analysis indicated that messenger RNA of both genes was of maternal origin, but the p53 suppressor mRNA was relatively more abundant than the IGF-IR message in most of the developmental stages, except possibly at 28 hours postfertilization. At this stage the IGF-I receptor message was highly expressed and visible in whole internal organ regions by whole-mount in situ hybridization, while p53 message was concentrated in the head portion and barely detectable in the trunk portion. The results suggest that IGF-IR and p53 mRNA are expressed at different places and different times. However, the temporal and spatial relationship of IGF-IR and its relationship to p53 suppressor protein during developmental processes remain unknown.

Journal Article↗

A second expressed kininogen gene in mice.

We isolated PCR, RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE-PCR)-, and RT-PCR-generated clones from mouse kininogen family transcripts. DNA sequencing indicated that the clones were from two distinct genes. One set (K1) is from the previously reported mouse kininogen gene. The second set (K2) has an open reading frame, is 93% identical to K1 in the overlapping nucleotide sequence, and, unlike T-kininogens in the rat, encodes a bradykinin motif identical to K1. We discovered that K2 exists with two different 5' ends. We used RT-PCR to determine the distribution and relative abundance of K1 and K2 mRNA in mouse tissues. K2 is transcribed and K1 and K2 are generally both expressed in the same tissues; however, they differ in their regulation of the alternative splicing event that yields either low-molecular-weight kininogen (LMWK) or high-molecular-weight kininogen (HMWK). For example, in the liver K1 is expressed as both HMWK and LMWK, whereas K2 is only expressed as LMWK. Conversely, in the kidney K2 is strongly expressed as both HMWK and LMWK, whereas K1 is not expressed as HMWK and expressed only very weakly as LMWK.

Animals↗

Molecular genetic analyses of a 376-kilodalton Golgi complex membrane protein (giantin)

Molecular genetic analyses of a 376-kDa Golgi complex (GC) membrane protein (giantin) are described. The immunoglobulin G fraction of a human serum containing antibodies against GC antigens as revealed by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy with Hep-2 cells was used to screen a HeLa cDNA expression library, yielding four overlapping cross-hybridizing clones. Additional cDNA clones were retrieved from a lambda gt11 human thyroid cDNA library or generated by reverse transcriptase-mediated PCR from HeLa cell mRNA. Alignment of the clones resulted in a consensus cDNA of 10,300 bp encoding a protein of 376 kDa. The corresponding mRNA with a size of about 10 kb was detected by Northern (RNA) blotting of HeLa, Hep-G2, and Jurkat cell RNA. Sequence analyses of the protein revealed an extraordinarily high content of heptad repeats with the probability of forming coiled coils similar to the proteins of the myosin family. Five overlapping recombinant proteins covering the entire sequence were synthesized and used for antibody production in rabbits and for affinity purification of human and rabbit antibodies. Indirect immunofluorescence experiments also done with brefeldin A-treated Hep-2 and Pt K1 cells revealed an identical GC staining of both the affinity-purified human and rabbit antibodies. Double labeling experiments with antibodies against the GC marker mannosidase II as well as immunoelectron microscopic studies confirmed the localization of the protein within the GC. A corresponding endogenous large-molecular-mass protein of about 390 kDa was found in [35S]methionine-labeled Hep-2 cell lysates as well as in GC-enriched subcellular fractions from rat liver. The protein as well as the recently described proteins golgin-95 and golgin-160 (M. J. Fritzler, J. C. Hamel, R. L. Ochs, and E. K. L. Chan, J. Exp. Med. 178:49-62, 1993) may belong to a new group of Golgi proteins with a high content of heptad repeats which may exert functions in scaffold formation or vesicle transport. As far as can be concluded from immunological and personally communicated partial cDNA sequence data, the protein seems to be identical with a 400-kDa Golgi protein (giantin) recently described (A. D. Linstedt and H. P. Hauri, Mol. Biol. Cell 4:679-693, 1993). Therefore, we agreed to adopt the name giantin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Latency of Epstein-Barr virus is stabilized by antisense-mediated control of the viral immediate-early gene BZLF-1.

The ability of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to avoid lytic replication and to establish a latent infection in B-lymphocytes is fundamental for its lifelong persistence and the pathogenesis of various EBV-associated diseases. The viral immediate-early gene BZLF-1 plays a key role for the induction of lytic replication and its activity is strictly regulated on different levels of gene expression. Recently, it was demonstrated that BZLF-1 is also controlled by a posttranscriptional mechanism. Transient synthesis of a mutated competitor RNA saturated this mechanism and caused both expression of the BZLF-1 protein and the induction of lytic viral replication. Using short overlapping fragments of the competitor, it is shown that this control acts on the unspliced primary transcript. RT-PCR demonstrated unspliced BZLF-1 RNA in latently infected B-lymphocytes in the absence of BZLF-1 protein. Due to the complementarity of the gene BZLF-1 and the latency-associated gene EBNA-1 on the opposite strand of the genome, we propose an antisense-mediated mechanism. RNase protection assays demonstrated transcripts in antisense orientation to the BZLF-1 transcript during latency, which comprise a comparable constellation to other herpesviruses. A combined RNAse protection/RT-PCR assay detected the double-stranded hybrid RNA, consisting of the unspliced BZLF-1 transcript and a noncoding intron of the EBNA-1 gene. Binding of BZLF-1 transcripts is suggested to be an important backup control mechanism in addition to transcriptional regulation, stabilizing latency and preventing inappropriate lytic viral replication in vivo.

B-Lymphocytes↗

Comprehensive analysis of chromosome 1p deletions in neuroblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Chromosome 1p deletions are common in advanced neuroblastomas, but the biological and clinical implications of this clonal rearrangement remain controversial. Previous studies of chromosome 1p loss of heterozygosity (LOH) have been limited by analyses of relatively small number of tumors derived from heterogeneously assessed and treated patient populations. Therefore, a strictly representative cohort of 288 Children's Cancer Group neuroblastoma patients treated on the most recent phase III therapeutic trials was identified. PROCEDURE: Primary tumors from these patients were analyzed for LOH at precisely mapped and highly informative 1p polymorphic loci located from 1p32 to 1p36.3 by multiplex PCR. RESULTS: Ninety-three primary tumor specimens (32%) had LOH at multiple 1p36 marker loci. All 1p deletions overlapped the previously determined smallest region of overlap (SRO). One tumor had a small terminal deletion completely within 1p36.3, allowing for further refinement of the 1p36 SRO. We found no evidence to support an additional, nonoverlapping region of LOH within 1p32-36. We confirmed the strong correlation of 1p36 LOH with MYCN amplification (P < 0.001), advanced disease stage (P < 0.001), and decreased both 3-year event-free survival and overall survival probabilities (P< 0.001). When stratified for MYCN amplification status or entered into a multivariate analysis, 1p36 LOH remained predictive for decreased event-free survival, but not overall survival probability. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that inactivation of a tumor suppressor gene within 1p36.3 is associated with an increased risk for disease relapse.

Alleles↗

Mitochondrial DNA from pre-Columbian Ciboneys from Cuba and the prehistoric colonization of the Caribbean.

To assess the genetic affinities of extinct Ciboneys (also called Guanajuatabeys) from Cuba, 47 pre-Columbian skeletal samples belonging to this group were analyzed using ancient DNA techniques. At the time of European contact, the center and east of Cuba were occupied by agriculturalist Taino groups, while the west was mainly inhabited by Ciboneys, hunter-gatherers who have traditionally been considered a relic population descending from the initial colonization of the Caribbean. The mtDNA hypervariable region I (HVR-I) and haplogroup-specific markers were amplified and sequenced in 15 specimens using overlapping fragments; amplification from second extractions from the same sample, independent replication in different laboratories, and cloning of some PCR products support the authenticity of the sequences. Three of the five major mtDNA Amerindian lineages (A, C, and D) are present in the sample analyzed, in frequencies of 0.07, 0.60, and 0.33, respectively. Different phylogenetic analyses seem to suggest that the Caribbean most likely was populated from South America, although the data are still inconclusive, and Central American influences cannot be discarded. Our hypothesis is that the colonization of the Caribbean mainly took place in successive migration movements that emanated from the same area in South America, around the Lower Orinoco Valley: the first wave consisted of hunter-gatherer groups (ancestors of the Ciboneys), a subsequent wave of agriculturalists (ancestors of the Tainos), and a latter one of nomadic Carib warriors. However, further genetic studies are needed to confirm this scenario.

Bone and Bones↗