Genetic Heterogeneity in Regional Populations of Quebec: Parental Lineages in the Gaspe Peninsula

Stable colonization of the Gaspé Peninsula by Europeans started in the middle of the eighteenth century at the time of the British conquest of New France. The earliest settlers were Acadians, escaping British deportation policies, followed by Loyalists from the United States, who preferred to remain under British rule after the Declaration of Independence. In the nineteenth century, the developing fishing industry attracted French Canadians from the St. Lawrence Valley and newcomers from Europe, including Channel Islanders from Jersey and Guernsey. The authors analyzed parental lineages of the self-declared descendants of these four groups of settlers by mtDNA D-loop sequencing and Y-chromosome genotyping and compared them with French, British, and Irish samples. Their representation in terms of haplotype frequency classes reveals different signatures of founder effects, such as a loss of rare haplotypes, modification of intermediate frequency haplotypes, reduction in genetic diversity (seen in Acadians), but also enrichment by admixture. Parental lineages correlate with group identity. Descendants of the first European settlers, Acadians and Loyalists, preserved their identity more than those of French Canadian and Channel Islander "latecomers." The authors found that although overall genetic diversity among Gaspesians is comparable with their European source populations, Fst analysis indicated their greater differentiation. Distinct settlement history, a limited number of founders and relative genetic isolation contributed to the regionalization of the Quebec gene pool that appears less homogenous than usually anticipated.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Vol. 139

no. 4

512-522

August 2009

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