Y-chromosome genotyping of the Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole of Eastern Uganda

Abstract

Uganda is an important place to study the genetic diversity of humans due to the existence of ethnically, linguistically and geographically diverse contemporary populations. Populations in Uganda speak languages that belong to the major language groups namely, Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger- Congo and Khoisan. However, there is still little information available on the Y chromosome haplogroups distribution among different tribes in Uganda. This study was carried out among three selected tribes from Eastern Uganda namely; the Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole. The aims of this study were; to establish the Y-chromosome genotypes among these tribes and establish the genetic relationship between these tribes using Y chromosome markers. The Y chromosome genetic relationship between these three trines and selected populations from Africa was also investigated. One hundred twenty-six (126) individuals from the Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole tribes of Eastern Uganda were genotyped for Y chromosome haplogroups and the results were compared with published data from other African populations. Seven compound haplogroups namely, A3-M32, B-M181, E1-M33, E2-M75, E3a-M2, E3b2 and E3b3 were observed in the Banyole (40), Balamogi (40) and Bagwere (46). Haplogroups E3a-M2 and A3-M32 were common among all study populations. A low mean pairwise FST value (0.08517) between the Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole suggests that these populations arose from a very recent common population in the past. Haplogroup frequency data from the study populations was analysed along with published data from selected African populations from Central Africa and Eastern Africa. As expected, the greatest FST genetic distance was observed between Central African Niger-Congo populations and East African non-Bantu populations (FST > 0.25). The Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole were found to be closely related to Central African Niger-Congo populations due to high frequencies of E-haplogroups which were highly prevalent among the Central African populations.

This study investigated Y chromosome haplogroup diversity among the Balamogi, the Bagwere and the Banyole of Eastern Uganda and compared this diversity with selected populations across Africa. This study contributes to understanding Y chromosome genetic diversity of populations in the River Nile Basin.