Azores Islands: Genetic origin, gene flow and diversity pattern

Abstract

Background: The Azores are an archipelago located in the North Atlantic Ocean (parallel 38) composed of nine islands, dispersed over three geographical groups: The Eastern group (São Miguel and Santa Maria), the Central group (Terceira, Graciosa, Pico, São Jorge and Faial) and the Western group (Flores and Corvo). Taking into consideration the geographical and settlement history differences of the archipelago, the genetic diversity pattern and the internal migration of the Azorean population were assessed, based on the analysis of 15 STR loci in 592 unrelated individuals.

Results: The results of this evaluation reveal that Terceira displays the highest value of gene diversity (0.7979) and Corvo the lowest (0.7717). Gene flow analysis indicates that Corvo has the lowest value for migration, 23.35, where as São Miguel and Terceira have the highest values for emigration, 108.14 and 87.66, respectively. Taken together, the data demonstrate that, despite settlement diversity, no genetic difference between the populations of the nine islands is observable today. This may be explained by internal migration.

Conclusion: Overall, the Azorean population can be analysed as a homogeneous genetic group, which consequently, would present, possibly, the same drug-reaction profile. In terms of genomic medicine, these results will have a significant impact on the design of future genetic and pharmacogenomic studies in the Azorean population.

• STRs
• genetic diversity
• population structure
• gene flow
• Azores