RESEARCH ARTICLE Exploring the Y Chromosomal Ancestry of Modern Panamanians Viola Grugni1, Vincenza Battaglia1, Ugo Alessandro Perego2,3, Alessandro Raveane1, Hovirag Lancioni3, Anna Olivieri1, Luca Ferretti1, Scott R. Woodward2, Juan Miguel Pascale4, Richard Cooke5, Natalie Myres2,6, Jorge Motta4, Antonio Torroni1, Alessandro Achilli1,3, Ornella Semino1* 1 Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, 2 Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America, 3 Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, 4 Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Panama City, Panama, 5 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama, 6 Ancestry, Provo, Utah, United States of America *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Geologically, Panama belongs to the Central American land-bridge between North and Citation: Grugni V, Battaglia V, Perego UA, Raveane South America crossed by Homo sapiens >14 ka ago. Archaeologically, it belongs to a A, Lancioni H, Olivieri A, et al. (2015) Exploring the Y Chromosomal Ancestry of Modern Panamanians. wider Isthmo-Colombian Area. Today, seven indigenous ethnic groups account for 12.3% PLoS ONE 10(12): e0144223. doi:10.1371/journal. of Panama’s population. Five speak Chibchan languages and are characterized by low pone.0144223 genetic diversity and a high level of differentiation. In addition, no evidence of differential Editor: Francesc Calafell, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, structuring between maternally and paternally inherited genes has been reported in isth- SPAIN mian Chibchan cultural groups. Recent data have shown that 83% of the Panamanian gen- Received: March 31, 2015 eral population harbour mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) of Native American ancestry.