Mitochondrial diversity of human remains from the late pre-hispanic period in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract

In this article we present the first set of mitochondrial hypervariable region I sequences from human archaeological remains from the province of Santiago del Estero, with the aim of contributing to the knowledge of the genetic diversity of the populations of the Santiago plains and the processes of interaction with groups from other regions of Argentina in late pre-Hispanic times. Positive results were obtained in 5 out of the 10 analyzed samples, which allowed the identification of 5 different haplotypes. One of the samples, from the north of the Dulce river, shows the characteristic mutations of subhaplogroup D1j, while the other individuals were assigned to derived lineages of C1. The comparison of the haplotypes obtained in this work with pre-Hispanic sequences compiled from the literature did not show a genetic connection with the populations that inhabited northwest Argentina region in the Late Period nor with the Chaco-Littoral groups. Nevertheless, a biological link was clearly observed between the populations of the Santiago del Estero plains and the groups of the central region of Argentina (mainly of the province of Córdoba), and of the valleys of the center-west of Argentina. Despite the small sample size, the detected haplotypes demonstrate these linkages: three out of the five sequences obtained were assigned to the lineages D1j, C1d1b and C1b+146 that have been pointed out as indicators of close genetic relationships between the populations from Central and Western Argentina, as well as evidence of sustained gene flow between them.