Authors |
Emily M. Russell, Daniel N. Harris, Jenna C. Carlson, Jerry Z. Zhang, Nicola L. Hawley, Hong Cheng, Take Naseri, Muagututi‘a Sefuiva Reupena, Ida Y Chen, DC Rao, Agnes C. Hsiung, Lee-Ming Chuang, Wayne Sheu, Dawood Darbar, Ranjan Deka, Timothy D. O’Connor, Stephen T. McGarvey, Daniel E. Weeks, and Ryan L. Minster with the TOPMed Population Genetics Working Group
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Abstract Text |
Samoa is part of the Polynesian Islands which were settled 3,000 years ago. Challenges faced by the settlers of Samoa may have led to positive adaptive selection when food was limited, especially for energy efficient alleles. Selection may also have occurred as a result of exposure to infectious diseases during migration or contact with outside populations. Genetic signatures of adaptation have been identified in other population isolates so, given Samoa’s genetic isolation, they are likely to be identified in Samoa as well. We performed a SNP-based population branch statistic analysis (PBS) to simultaneously compare the genetic population differentiation between Samoa and a closely-related in-group and a distantly-related out-group. 419 unrelated Samoans were compared to 1,432 unrelated Taiwan Chinese and 1,083 unrelated Europeans. All individuals were sequenced as part of the TOPMed Program. We also tested for evidence of selective sweeps in 419 unrelated Samoans using nSL, a single-population haplotype-based analysis. Since nSL values are dependent on allele frequency, nSL was calculated once with MAF>0.01 and once with MAF>0.05. The top 25 variants from the PBS, nSL(0.01), and nSL(0.05) analyses were explored further. We performed gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis on the PBS results. The top 25 variants from the PBS, nSL(0.01), and nSL(0.05) analyses included 29 variants in/near genes (ADH5P2, ARHGEF28, CLN3, GRIN2A, KIAA1217, LOC101929563, LRFN5, OFCC1, PDZD8, RNU5F-1, SCN3A, SEMAB, and TIGAR) that have been associated with BMI and 17 variants in/near genes (ARL17B, B4GALNT4, C22orf34, LOC101929563, MIR4289, MROH1, PFKFB3, PLXNC1, and PPP2R2D) that have been associated with the immune system or respiratory disease. Genes (ABC11, ARL17B, MCU, and TMEM132C) which have been identified in other genome-wide scans of selection were also identified. Of the 10 gene sets that were significantly enriched in the GO enrichment analysis, 4 were associated with immune system-related biological processes. This suggests that variants associated with an energy efficient metabolism and the immune system may have been selected for in Samoans. Selection for BMI related alleles may have occurred during times of food scarcity. Selection for immune related alleles may have occurred in response to exposure to an infectious disease at some point in Samoan population history.
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