Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Yucatan, Mexico: Merida and rural Yucatan

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 324 Mexicans from the state of Yucatan living in the city of Merida (N = 192) and rural communities (N = 132), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We found that the most frequent haplotypes in the state of Yucatan include 16 Native American and one European haplotype. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in Yucatan are Native American (81.54 +/- 4.99% by ML; 62.92% of Native American haplotypes) and European (11.50 +/- 15.43% by ML; 23.26% of European haplotypes), and a less prominent African genetic component (6.96 +/- 10.47% by ML; 5.93% of African haplotypes).