Search

Human variation, including questions about race, have been central to biological anthropology since its emergence as a professional discipline in the early 20th century. More recently, genomic data have been used to address open questions about the nature and scope of human variation. Results from genome-wide association studies and commercially available direct-to-consumer genetic ancestry tests have also kindled scholarly debate about the relationship between genetics/genomics and race. Such discussions among scholars and other stakeholders, illustrates that there are still many open issues about how genomic data influence the ways that people think about and debate race and racism. Genetic ancestry remains particularly contentious because of a complicated history of race within anthropology and other human sciences. In this article, I provide a broad overview on understandings of race given the new discoveries in genetics/genomics and provide examples of how these types of data continue to impact social and legal understandings of race. Ultimately, given that a primary focus of biological anthropology is to query human experience from a biological perspective, it will remain critical that biological anthropologists uphold the anti-racist tradition of modern anthropology and diligently work to shape narratives about human difference.

Objectives From a genetic perspective, relatively little is known about how mass emigrations of African, European, and Asian peoples beginning in the 16th century affected Indigenous Caribbean populations. Therefore, we explored the impact of serial colonization on the genetic variation of the first Caribbean islanders. Materials and methods Sixty-four members of St. Vincent's Garifuna Community and 36 members of Trinidad's Santa Rosa First People's Community (FPC) of Arima were characterized for mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome diversity via direct sequencing and targeted SNP and STR genotyping. A subset of 32 Garifuna and 18 FPC participants were genotyped using the GenoChip 2.0 microarray. The resulting data were used to examine genetic diversity, admixture, and sex biased gene flow in the study communities. Results The Garifuna were most genetically comparable to African descendant populations, whereas the FPC were more similar to admixed American groups. Both communities also exhibited moderate frequencies of Indigenous American matrilines and patrilines. Autosomal SNP analysis indicated modest Indigenous American ancestry in these populations, while both showed varying degrees of African, European, South Asian, and East Asian ancestry, with patterns of sex-biased gene flow differing between the island communities. Discussion These patterns of genetic variation are consistent with historical records of migration, forced, or voluntary, and suggest that different migration events shaped the genetic make-up of each island community. This genomic study is the highest resolution analysis yet conducted with these communities, and provides a fuller understanding of the complex bio-histories of Indigenous Caribbean peoples in the Lesser Antilles.

Variable socio-cultural influences devel- oped in the colonial Caribbean as a result of competing European hegemonic rule. In this study, we examine how colonial regulations regarding social hierarchies and mate choice worked to influence the genetic landscape of con- temporary African Caribbean populations. To this end, 420 individuals from Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, St. Vincent, Jamaica, and Trinidad were genotyped for 105 autosomal ancestry informative markers. Based on these data, population substructure and admixture were assessed using an exact test, a model-based clustering method, and principal components analysis. On average, individual admixture estimates of the pooled African Caribbean sample were 77% (SD618%) West African, 15% (SD615%) European, and 7.7% (SD68%) Native American. In general, ancestry estimates were significantly different between Dominica and all other islands. Genetic structure analyses indi- cated subdivision into two subpopulations on most islands. Finally, unlike all of the other Caribbean popula- tions that clustered adjacent to African populations, the Dominican population was more intermediate between the three parental groups in the principal components plot. As a result of the significant French influence throughout Dominican history, Dominica did not have the same cultural influences that typified other Anglophone colonies. Consequently, there were different social hierar- chies and resulting mate choices on Dominica compared with the other considered islands. This study highlights the complex socio-cultural history of a broad region of the Caribbean and attests to the interplay between social and biological factors in shaping the genetic diversity present in present-day communities. Am J Phys Anthropol 151:135-143, 2013. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

BACKGROUND Prostate cancer (Pca) is a common malignancy that disproportionately affects African American men (AA). Recently there have been several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) implicating new prostate cancer risk loci along chromosomes 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, and X in populations of European ancestry. Given the higher incidence and mortality for AAs, and differences in allele frequencies and haplotype structures between African and European descent populations, it is important to assess the impact of these candidate risk loci in AAs. METHODS Here we evaluated 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with prostate cancer risk in recent GWAS studies, in AA prostate cancer cases and controls. RESULTS We replicated five of the SNPs in our AA population, rs10896449 on 11q13.2 (P = 0.009), rs2735839 on 19q33.33 region, (P = 0.04), rs443076 on chromosome 17q12 (P = 0.008), rs5945572 on Xp11.22 (P = 0.05), as well as the rare variant specific to west African ancestry, bd11934905 in region 2 of 8q24 (P = 1 × 10−4). CONCLUSIONS While we were able to replicate a few of the previous GWAS SNPs, we were not able to confirm the vast majority of these associations in our AA population. This finding further supports the need to perform GWAS and additional fine mapping in AAs to locate additional susceptibility loci. Prostate 70: 270–275, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.