Ancestral genetic composition of a human population from the Colombian southwest using autosomal AIM-InDels

Genetic markers with allele distribution differences in human populations provide human ancestry information that can be used to evaluate admixture proportions in different ethnic groups, including stratification in genetic association studies. The aim of this study was to determine the African, European and Native American admixture proportion by making use of 46 insertion-deletion informative ancestry record markers set in 500 Latin American people in the Department of Cauca, Colombia. Allelic frequencies were established, Hardy Weinberg test was performed, comparisons in genetic distances among population groups were estimated using Arlequin v 3.5, and STRUCTURE v 2.3.4 software was used to determine the population’s ancestry admixture. The results revealed a diverse genetic base, resulting from the three continental populations tested. The average ancestry observed in the Cauca population was: 48 % Native American, 39 % European, and 14 % African. This study reveals the complex population stratification of the Department of Cauca, which is the result of the genetic admixture of three continental populations.