In this study, we use Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to improve our understanding of the pre-Columbian migrations to the Antilles that gave rise to the Taínos, the first settlers of Puerto Rico. The purpose of this project is to compare the haplogroup between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, through mutations. The majority of the indigenous mtDNAs belonged to the Amerindian haplogroups A,B,C, and D. Haplogroups A and C constitutes 88% of the indigenous samples originated from local tribe, the Taínos. A hypothesis developed from the first approach is proved based in the analysis of ancestral DNA (aDNA) from remains of the Caribbean
I had the opportunity to share not only ideas but also moments with my laboratory fellows. Like every one, because no one is perfect, I made a mistake once with the purification procedure in which I add Buffer 2 without ethanol that retains the DNA in the filter during its purification. The professor met the team work to explain these mistakes for not to be repeated. Thanks to the theory and practice, I learn how to identify the origin of a person (Indian, African, and Caucasian) and to obtain more information (HVRII) from the sequences obtained in the HVRI. I analyzed the Indians’ samples with HVRII, which provides more information, for them to be the “most recent”, instead of Africans that are ancient and only HVRI is enough.
