A. Zetina-Hérnandez

Bio: A. Zetina-Hérnandez is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Latin Americans. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 45 citations.

Admixture and genetic relationships of Mexican Mestizos regarding Latin American and Caribbean populations based on 13 CODIS-STRs

Abstract: Short tandem repeats (STRs) of the combined DNA index system (CODIS) are probably the most employed markers for human identification purposes. STR databases generated to interpret DNA profiles are also helpful for anthropological purposes. In this work, we report admixture, population structure, and genetic relationships of Mexican Mestizos with respect to Latin American and Caribbean populations based on 13 CODIS-STRs. In addition, new STR population data were included from Tijuana, Baja California (Northwest, Mexico), which represents an interesting case of elevated genetic flow as a bordering city with the USA. Inter-population analyses included CODIS-STR data from 11 Mexican Mestizo, 12 Latin American and four Caribbean populations, in addition to European, Amerindian, and African genetic pools as ancestral references. We report allele frequencies and statistical parameters of forensic interest (PD, PE, Het, PIC, typical PI), for 15 STRs in Tijuana, Baja California. This Mexican border city was peculiar by the increase of African ancestry, and by presenting three STRs in Hardy–Weinberg disequilibrium, probably explained by recurrent gene flow. The Amerindian ancestry in Central and Southeast of Mexico was the greatest in Latin America (50.9–68.6%), only comparable with the North of Central America and Ecuador (48.8–56.4%), whereas the European ancestry was prevalent in South America (66.7–75%). The African ancestry in Mexico was the smallest (2.2–6.3%) in Latin America (≥2.6%), particularly regarding Brazil (21%), Honduras (62%), and the Caribbean (43.2–65.2%). CODIS-STRs allowed detecting significant population structure in Latin America based on greater presence of European, Amerindian, and African ancestries in Central/South America, Mexican Mestizos, and the Caribbean, respectively.

Admixture in the Americas: Regional and National Differences

Abstract: We conducted novel analyses regarding the association between continental racial ancestry, cognitive ability and socioeconomic outcomes across 6 datasets: states of Mexico, states of the United States, states of Brazil, departments of Colombia, sovereign nations and all units together. We find that European ancestry is consistently and usually strongly positively correlated with cognitive ability and socioeconomic outcomes (mean r for cognitive ability = .708; for socioeconomic well-being = .643) (Sections 3-8). In most cases, including another ancestry component, in addition to European ancestry, did not increase predictive power (Section 9). At the national level, the association between European ancestry and outcomes was robust to controls for natural-environmental factors (Section 10). This was not always the case at the regional level (Section 18). It was found that genetic distance did not have predictive power independent of European ancestry (Section 10). Automatic modeling using best subset selection and lasso regression agreed in most cases that European ancestry was a non-redundant predictor (Section 11). Results were robust across 4 different ways of weighting the analyses (Section 12). It was found that the effect of European ancestry on socioeconomic outcomes was mostly mediated by cognitive ability (Section 13). We failed to find evidence of international colorism or culturalism (i.e., neither skin reflectance nor self-reported race/ethnicity showed incremental predictive ability once genomic ancestry had been taken into account) (Section 14). The association between European ancestry and cognitive outcomes was robust across a number of alternative measures of cognitive ability (Section 15). It was found that the general socioeconomic factor was not structurally different in the American sample as compared to the worldwide sample, thus justifying the use of that measure. Using Jensen's method of correlated vectors, it was found that the association between European ancestry and socioeconomic outcomes was stronger on more S factor loaded outcomes, r = .75 (Section 16). There was some evidence that tourist expenditure helped explain the relatively high socioeconomic performance of Caribbean states (Section 17).

Selection of highly informative SNP markers for population affiliation of major US populations

Abstract: Ancestry informative markers (AIMs) can be used to detect and adjust for population stratification and predict the ancestry of the source of an evidence sample. Autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the best candidates for AIMs. It is essential to identify the most informative AIM SNPs across relevant populations. Several informativeness measures for ancestry estimation have been used for AIMs selection: absolute allele frequency differences (δ), F statistics (F ST), and informativeness for assignment measure (In). However, their efficacy has not been compared objectively, particularly for determining affiliations of major US populations. In this study, these three measures were directly compared for AIMs selection among four major US populations, i.e., African American, Caucasian, East Asian, and Hispanic American. The results showed that the F ST panel performed slightly better for population resolution based on principal component analysis (PCA) clustering than did the δ panel and both performed better than the In panel. Therefore, the 23 AIMs selected by the F ST measure were used to characterize the four major American populations. Genotype data of nine sample populations were used to evaluate the efficiency of the 23-AIMs panel. The results indicated that individuals could be correctly assigned to the major population categories. Our AIMs panel could contribute to the candidate pool of AIMs for potential forensic identification purposes.

Importance of the geographic barriers to promote gene drift and avoid pre- and post-Columbian gene flow in Mexican native groups: Evidence from forensic STR Loci.

Abstract: Objective: To analyze the origin, structure,relationships, and recent admixture in Mexican Native groups basedon 15 STRs commonly used in human identification. Methods: We analyzed 39 Mexican Native population samples using STR databases based on the AmpFlSTRVRIdentifiler kit (n=3,135), including Mexican-Mestizos (admixed),European and African populations, as reference. Results: Based upon effective population size (Ne) differences, Native groups were clustered into three regions: i)Center-Southeast groups, characterized by larger Ne, migration rate (Nm), genetic diversity (He), and relative homo-geneity principally in the Yucatan Peninsula; ii) Isolated southern groups from Chiapas and Oaxaca, characterizedby lower Ne, Nm, and He (i.e. higher isolation and genetic differentiation); iii) North-Northwest groups, which aresimilar to the previous group but are characterized by generating the widest gene flow barrier in the Pre-HispanicMexican territory, and currently by elevated admixture in some northern Native groups. Despite the relative congru-ence between genetic relationships with cultural, linguistic, geographic criteria, these factors do not explain thepresent-day population structure of Native groups, excepting in those linguistically related to the Mayan that showhigher homogeneity. The Isolation by distance model was demonstrated at long distances (>1,500 km), whereas geo-graphic isolation stands as a determining factor to avoid both non-indigenous admixture and bottleneck processes. Conclusions: Different dynamics of gene flow and drift were observed among Mexican Native groups, highlight-ing the geographic barriers (mountains, canyons and jungle regions) as the main factor differentiating Pre-hispanicpopulations, and eventually helping to avoid Post-European contact admixture and population bottleneck.

Temporal Patterns of Mexican Migrant Genetic Ancestry: Implications for Identification

Abstract: Motivated by the humanitarian crisis along the US–Mexico border and the need for more integrative approaches to migrant death investigations, we employ both biological and cultural anthropology perspectives to provide insight into these deaths and the forensic identification process. We propose that structural vulnerabilities linked to ethnicity impact the success of identifying deceased migrants. Using forensic genetic data, we examine the relationships among identification status, case year, and ancestry, demonstrating how Native American and European ancestry proportions differ between identified and unidentified migrant fatalities, revealing an otherwise unrecognized identification bias. We find that Mexican migrants with more European ancestry are more often successfully identified in recent years. We attribute this bias in identification to the layers of structural vulnerability that uniquely affect indigenous Mexican migrants. By demonstrating the impact that social processes like structural violence can have on the relative success of forensic casework along the US–Mexico border, our work underscores the fact that forensic casework is itself a social process. Research undertaken with the intent to improve forensic identification protocols should consider social context, a factor that could significantly impact identification rates. This study shows the need for collaboration between forensic practitioners and those working closely with affected communities. [US–Mexico border, forensic anthropology, migration, admixture, DNA]

Misclassifications of Hispanics Using Fordisc 3.1: Comparing Cranial Morphology in Asian and Hispanic Populations†

Abstract: It has been brought to the attention of the authors of Fordisc 3.1 that Hispanic samples will often misclassify as Japanese when Asian population samples are included. This study examined this problem in an effort to better document the occurrence and deduce possible causes via comparative analyses. Asian and Hispanic samples were first compared utilizing the existing samples from the University of Tennessee's Forensic Data Bank. Additional modern Japanese, Thai, and Korean samples collected by the first author that have previously not been utilized in analyses were subsequently included. Results of this study confirm frequent rates of misclassification among Hispanic and Japanese groups. Furthermore, a close morphological relationship is identified through further group comparisons and the addition of data used in conjunction with Fordisc samples. Similarities identified among Hispanic and Japanese crania may stem from similar population histories reflected in ancestral Native American and East Asian populations.