Contribution of Functional Genes to the Anthropogenetic Characterization of Two Moroccan Berber Populations from Souss and Ouarzazate: Apolipoproteins E and CI Genes

Introduction: Genetic studies of human populations have as main purpose, the characterization of population allelic frequencies and the analysis of the diversity to assess their affinity or differentiation from other populations, according to the ethnicity, region or language groups. The use of susceptibility markers to characterize some human diseases in epidemiological studies could be of interest in the anthropological characterization of human populations. Thus, our results can constitute an interesting source of data and a supplement of information for the reconstruction of the biological history of the analysed samples.

Methods: In this context our study focused on the analysis of molecular polymorphisms of two apolipoprotein genes: ApoE and ApoCI, in two moroccan berber-speaking populations. The aim of this study is to predict genetic predisposition to develop cardiovascular disease and to study genetic affinities with other Moroccan and Mediterranean populations.

Results and discussion: The Berber speaking populations from the regions of ouarzazate and souss have been characterized for the first time by the two studied markers. The comparisons of allelic frequencies allowed us to dress a profile of studied populations’ affinities together with other Moroccan and Mediterranean populations. This profile allowed to highlight patterns of differentiation similar to others obtained for these two populations with other types of markers supposed to be neutral.