| Abstract |
Taiwan aborigines are Austronesian speakers. Their origins, migrations and evolution are important research topics for anthropologists. In recent years, scholars have used many genetic marks to study Taiwan aborigines including blood groups, red cell enzymes, serum proteins, HLA, SNP on Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. The results of these studies indicated that there are significant differences among Taiwan aboriginal populations.
MICA is a gene in HLA region, located 46 kb centromeric to HLA-B locus. It is 11,719 base pairs long and contains 6 exons. MICA is highly polymorphic; there are at least 58 known MICA alleles
Ninety-four DNA samples, including people from Amis, Atayal, Truku and Tsou tribes, were analyzed in this study. We found 28 MICA alleles in these samples: 15 alleles are shared by at least two tribes, and 18 alleles are novel.
MICA*00801 is of high frequency in four Taiwan aboriginal populations and other populations in the World. MICA alleles of Lineage II might originate from MICA*00801. In our research, 30% of novel alleles is directly originated from MICA*00801. MICA*019 were also found in Amis, Atayal, Truku and Tsou. It might be an ancient allele in Taiwan aborigines. It is though that Atayal and Truku shared close relationship. However, our results showed that they might have diverged from each other.
MICA*00201 were found in all other populations in the World but lost in Taiwan aborigines. Also, Taiwan aborigines and Northeast Asians only share two alleles: MICA*00801 and MICA*010. They do not share close relationship in the phylogeny tree. The distribution of MICA alleles in Taiwan aboriginal populations suggests that their genetic backgrounds are unique. |
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