Contribution of HLA class I (A, B, C) and HLA class II (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1) alleles and haplotypes in exploring ethnic origin of central Tunisians

• Published in: BMC medical genomics 2024-02, Vol.17 (1), p.65-14, Article 65
• Main Authors: Ben Bnina, Amène, Yessine, Amri, El Bahri, Yasmine, Chouchene, Saoussen, Ben Lazrek, Nada, Mimouna, Mariem, Mlika, Zeineb, Messoudi, Aziza, Zellama, Dorsaf, Sahtout, Wissal, Bouatay, Amina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alleles; Anthropology; Basque people; DQA1 protein; Drb1 protein; Gene Frequency; Genetic distance; Genetic polymorphism; Genotyping; Haplotypes; Histocompatibility antigen HLA; HLA-A Antigens - genetics; HLA-B Antigens - genetics; HLA-C Antigens - genetics; HLA-DRB1 Chains - genetics; Human leukocyte Antigen (HLA); Humans; North African People; Oligonucleotides; Organ donors; Palestinian people; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymorphism, Genetic; Population genetics; Population studies; Software
• ISSN: 1755-8794; 1755-8794
• DOI: 10.1186/s12920-024-01821-x

Estimation of HLA (Human leukocyte Antigen) alleles' frequencies in populations is essential to explore their ethnic origin. Anthropologic studies of central Tunisian population were rarely reported. Then, in this work, we aimed to explore the origin of central Tunisian population using HLA alleles and haplotypes frequencies. HLA class I (A, B, C) and HLA class II (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1) loci genotyping of 272 healthy unrelated organ donors was performed by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Sequence Specific Oligonucleotide (PCR-SSO). We compared central Tunisians with other populations (Arabs, Berbers, Mediterraneans, Europeans, Africans, etc.) using alleles and haplotypes frequencies, genetic distances, Neighbour-Joining dendrogram and correspondence analysis. Among the 19 HLA A alleles, the 26 HLA B alleles, the 13 HLA C alleles, the 15 HLA DRB1 alleles, the 6 HLA DQA1 alleles and the 5 HLA DQB1 alleles identified in the studied population, HLA A*02 (22.8%), HLA B*50 (13.1%), HLA C*06 (21.8%), HLA DRB1*07 (17.8%), HLA DQA1*01 (32.1%) and HLA DQB1*03 (31.6%) were the most frequent alleles. The extended haplotypes HLA A*02-B*50-C*06-DRB1*07-DQA1*02-DQB1*02 (1.97%) was the most frequent HLA six-loci haplotype. Central Tunisians were very close to other Tunisian populations, to Iberians and North Africans. They were rather distant from sub-Saharan populations and eastern Mediterraneans especially Arabs although the strong cultural and religious impact of Arabs in this population.