Hemoglobin Variant Profiles among Brazilian Quilombola Communities

Abstract

Brazilian Quilombolas are communities composed of African-derived populations that have their territories guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution. The present study investigated the hemoglobin (Hb) variants among these population groups. This study was conducted in a total of 2843 individuals of Brazilian Quilombola communities of the Bahia, Pará, and Piauí states. All the participants had their Hb profiles evaluated. The Hb S (HBB: c.20A>T) variant was described in all the studied localities. However, the individuals in Bahia State had the highest frequency of the Hb C (HBB: c.19G>A) variant; individuals from Piauí State had a higher frequency of the Hb D-Punjab (HBB: c.364G>C) variant compared to the other states, and individuals from Pará State only carried the Hb S variant. The present study revealed a specific distribution of Hb variants that could represent different waves of African influence in these Brazilian populations.

Keywords:

• Africans
• hemoglobinopathy
• hemoglobin (Hb) variant
• Quilombola

Acknowledgements

We thank the Quilombola communities of São Francisco do Conde, Laje dos Negros, Saracura, Arapemã, Queimada Nova, Amarante and Paulistana for their participation, because without these communities, this study would not have been conducted. We would like to thank to the editors of American Journal Experts for the great improvement on the English language, grammar, spelling, and overall style of this manuscript. RPS, RMO and LFS performed the sample collection, analyzed the data and co-wrote the manuscript; CVBF, JPMN, DOS, LMF and AFHG performed the experiments; RPS, RMO, LFS, JFM, EVA and CGB co-wrote and critically reviewed the manuscript; and MSG idealized the project, contributed intellectually, analyzed the data and co-wrote the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia [FAPESB under grant PET0018/2010].