Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Tlaxcala, Mexico: Tlaxcala city and rural Tlaxcala

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 1011 Mexicans from the state of Tlaxcala residing in the city of Tlaxcala (N = 181) and rural communities (N = 830), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We find that the ten most frequent haplotypes in Tlaxcala are all of Native American origin. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components are Native American (75.13 +/- 1.56% by ML; 69.24% based on of Native American haplotypes) and European (16.10 +/- 4.98% by ML; 19.74% of European haplotypes), with a less prominent African genetic component (8.78 +/- 4.09% by ML; 4.35% of African haplotypes).