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Migration and ethnic change in an admixed population from the Amazon region (Santarém, Pará)

Eduardo José Melo dos Santos^I; Ândrea Kelly Campos Ribeiro-dos-Santos^I; João Farias Guerreiro^I; Gilberto Ferreira de Souza Aguiar^II; Sidney Emanuel Batista dos Santos^I

^ILaboratório de Genética Humana e Médica, Departamento de Patologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Campus Universitário do Guamá, 66075-900 Belém, PA, Brasil. Send correspondence to S.E.B.S.
^IIÁrea de Ecologia e Biologia Humana, Departamento de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 66040-170 Belém, PA, Brasil

ABSTRACT

Genetic and demographic data from Santarém, PA, were analyzed. Eighty-two% of the individuals studied were born in the State of Pará and 11.7% were immigrants from Northeastern Brazil. Analysis of mean individual migration, mean marital distance, parent-offspring distance and exogamy index identified high population mobility. Characteristic alleles from three main ethnic groups, including BCHE*A (Whites), ALB*Make (Indians) and HBB*S and HBB*C (Blacks), were identified. The proportions of Black, Indian and White ancestrality were calculated as 28%, 35% and 37%, respectively. By considering the place of birth of the grandparents, a local subpopulation could be identified (natives of Santarém). The Black and Indian proportions in this subpopulation were 11% and 52%, respectively, significantly different from the estimates for the total sample. This strategy proved to be efficient for the characterization of the factors responsible for the genetic-demographic structure of this population.

Keywords: migration; ethnic; admixed population; Amazon region.

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