Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Tunisians reveals a mosaic genetic structure with recent population expansion.

Tunisia is a country of great interest for human population genetics due to its strategic geographic position and rich human settlement history. These factors significantly contributed to the genetic makeup of present-day Tunisians harbouring components of diverse geographic origins. Here, we investigated the genetic structure of Tunisians by performing a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) comparison of 15 Tunisian population groups, in order to explore their complex genetic landscape.

An investigation of the genetic diversity of the Kerkennah islands and Mahdia (Tunisia) using biparental markers.

Background: Kerkennah is one of the main inhabited islands of Tunisia. The origin of the population of Kerkennah has not been established and no well-defined ethnic groups have been identified nor are genetic studies available. Mahdia, a Tunisian coastal city, has a long history dating back to ancient times.

Human Alu insertion polymorphisms in North African populations.

Several features make Alu insertions a powerful tool used in population genetic studies: the polymorphic nature of many Alu insertions, the stability of an Alu insertion event and, furthermore, the ancestral state of an Alu insertion is known to be the absence of the Alu element at a particular locus and the presence of an Alu insertion at the site that forward mutational change. This study analyses seven Alu insertion polymorphisms in a sample of 297 individuals from the autochthonous population of Tunisia (Thala, Smar, Zarzis, and Bou Salem) and Libya with the aim of studying their genetic structure with respect to the populations of North Africa, Western, Eastern and Central Europe. The comparative analyses carried out using the MDS and AMOVA methods reveal the existence of spatial heterogeneity, and identify four population groups.

Ancient local evolution of African mtDNA haplogroups in Tunisian Berber populations.

Our objective is to highlight the age of sub-Saharan gene flows in North Africa and particularly in Tunisia. Therefore we analyzed in a broad phylogeographic context sub-Saharan mtDNA haplogroups of Tunisian Berber populations considered representative of ancient settlement. More than 2,000 sequences were collected from the literature, and networks were constructed.