The body of research using Isohelix products is growing all the time. One that caught our attention recently was, “Exploring the legacy of African and Indigenous Caribbean admixture in Puerto Rico” by Taye Winful et al. (2023).
The goal of this study was to assess the biogeographic origins of African descendant Puerto Ricans and to investigate the potential for Indigenous ancestry within this community.
2ml saliva samples were collected from self-identified African descendant Puerto Ricans residing in Puerto Rico using Isohelix Genefix™ collection kits. GeneFix kits are ideal for collecting samples from study participants in remote communities as they are non-toxic, simple to use, and contain a reagent that stabilizes DNA at room temperature for up to 60 months. After sample collection, kits can be mailed to the lab for DNA extraction.
When the samples reached the lab, DNA was extracted using the Isohelix Genefix Saliva-Prep 2 DNA kit, which uses a precipitation method to isolate high yields of pure DNA. The mitochondrial genomes of these individuals were sequenced, and Y chromosome haplogroups were genotyped for samples donated from males. Summary statistics, comparative analyses, and network analysis were used to assess diversity and variation in haplogroup distribution between the samples and comparative populations.
Results from the mitochondrial haplogroups showed that 66% had African, 5% had European, and 29% had Indigenous American matrilines. The Y chromosome analysis showed that 52% had African, 28% had Western European, 16% had Eurasian, and 4% had Indigenous American patrilines.
This study successfully used Isohelix GeneFix and Saliva-Prep kits to collect and extract DNA from saliva samples from study participants across Puerto Rico. The genomic analysis of these saliva samples have contributed to understanding how African descendants and Indigenous American admixture have shaped present-day communities.
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