West Mediterranean islands (Corsica, Balearic islands, Sardinia) and the Basque population: contribution of HLA class I molecular markers to their evolutionary history

The genetic structure of Balearic islands (Corsica and Sardinia), situated on the same trans-Mediterranean maritime routes and having very similar histories, were compared and their position among the neighbouring Caucasian populations was inferred. For this purpose, three HLA loci (HLA-A, -B and -Cw) were typed at the DNA level in these populations and the allelic and haplotypic frequencies were estimated. Because previous studies have shown common genetic features in the Sardinians and Basques, HLA-Cw molecular typing was also performed in a sample of French Basques in order to establish the haplotypic structure of this population for a more accurate comparison with the three others. By its allelic composition, the Corsican population has an intermediate position between the two other islander populations. Its close relationship with the Sardinian population, however, was clearly revealed by the phylogenetic analysis which also suggests a proximity with eastern Mediterranean peoples, whereas the Balearic islands are more narrowly related to Spain and western Europe. Peculiarities were observed in the distributions of some common haplotypes in the populations of the islands that confirm the results of the phylogenetic analysis and could be related to their history. Noteworthy is the presence of the HLA-A30-Cw*0501-B18 haplotype at frequencies approximately 2% in Corsica and the Balearic islands, yet the estimated frequencies of this haplotype are much lower than in the Sardinian and Basque populations.