Genetic diversity in the D-loop region of the Co-tu and Ro-mam ethnic groups

Abstract

The D-loop region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), with the highest mutation frequency in the mitochondrial genome, has been frequently used in studies on genetic diversity in different human populations. In this study, total DNA was collected and extracted from whole blood samples of 19 Co-tu and 24 Ro-mam individuals. After sequencing the mitochondrial DNA of 43 study subjects and aligning them to the mitochondrial DNA reconstructed sapiens reference sequence (RSRS), a total of 41 unique variants were obtained in the D-loop region, in which 27 and 30 variants were found in the Co-tu and Ro-mam populations, respectively. Haplogroup identification based on the D-loop region revealed 12 haplogroups, among which only haplogroup F1a1a was found in both ethnic groups using Haplogrep3. After analysing the genetic distances of the study populations and other previously published populations (Kinh and Mang), the results showed that the genetic distance between Co-tu and Ro-mam (0.14545) was the highest. This is the first study on the genetic diversity of the D-loop region of the Co-tu and Ro-mam ethnic groups living in Vietnam. These results provide more insights into the maternal genetic background and D-loop variants of the two studied ethnic groups.