DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLEX GENOTYPING METHODOF POLYMORPHIC MARKERS FOR GENES INVOLVED IN HUMAN ADAPTATION TO COLD CLIMATE

Abstract

Dispersal of the human population out of the place of origin in East Africa over the globe proceeded rapidly (on the evolutionary scale) and was associated with change of climatic zones and associated changes in habitat parameters - temperature, humidity, insolation, and infectious load. The aim of the study is to develop a method for genotyping of genetic markers associated with adaptation to climate according to the literature data and functional analysis of genes; and identification of signals of adaptation to cold climate in two indigenous Siberian populations. In the course of study, genes and genetic markers were selected, which show reliable signals of natural selection in populations living in cold arctic and subarctic climates in previously published papers and which are involved in biological processes having a cold adaptation potential. A panel of 28 single nucleotide markers (SNP) was selected, and a method of their multiplex genotyping was developed based on multiplex PCR and separating DNA fragments by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Allele frequencies of 28 SNPs in two indigenous Siberian populations (Yakuts and Kets) were determined. A low level of intrapopulation diversity in these populations and significant genetic differences between them were found. Loci under natural selection conditions were detected by analyzing the distribution of the observed Fst values in comparison with the expected distribution, obtained in the simulation calculations based on the hierarchical island model of population structure. The possible role of selection (p<0.1) in differentiation of populations between allele frequencies was determined for 2 markers - rs133036 in MKL1 gene and rs2305508 in CPT1A gene, which are candidate in terms of climate change adaptation.