Authors:
J. Martínez-Laso (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
E. Rivas-García (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
A. Ramírez-Puga (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
E. Fernández-Tagarro (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
I. Auyanet-Saavedra (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
L. López-Díaz (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
M. Trejo-Benítez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
M. González-Henríquez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
R. Ramos-Pérez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
N. Padrón-Peréz (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
R. Guerra-Rodrígez (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
N. Díaz-Novo (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
C. García-Cantón (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ES)
The peopling of the Canary Islands has been much debated. Data on mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome have suggested an original contribution of Berber origin with a later contribution of Spanish genetic background coming from the invaders. Some data on HLA class II alleles from the Tenerife population was published postulating a Berber and Atlantic/Iberian origin but this study focused on the Y chromosome, without complete HLA class I and class II haplotypes. In order to study the different contributions of the genetic background of Canary Islands, the HLA class I and class II allele frequency, haplotype frequency and phylogenetic dendrogram were determined from 215 unrelated individuals who had at least three previous generations of ancestors from the Canary Islands. Results showed a first contribution coming from North African Mediterranean population (probably of Berber origin); a second from Iberian-North Africans (directly from North African or from Iberian Peninsula); a third was composed of Mediterranean populations, European Mediterraneans and Western Europeans, carried by Spaniards (invasions); a fourth from Atlantic/Iberian populations and finaly directly from North European avoiding the Iberian Peninsula. These data conclude that the current genetic background of the Canary Island inhabitants has been generated over the years by admixture of several waves of invader DNA with an original Berber background.