A Comprehensive Analysis of 3 Moroccan Genomes Revealed Contributions From Both African and European Ancestries

Abstract

Genetic variations in the human genome represent the differences in DNA sequence within individuals. This highlights the important role of whole human genome sequencing which has become the keystone for precision medicine and disease prediction. Morocco is an important hub for studying human population migration and mixing history. This study presents the analysis of 3 Moroccan genomes; the variant analysis revealed 6 379 606 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and 1 050 577 small InDels. Of those identified SNVs, 219 152 were novel, with 1233 occurring in coding regions, and 5580 non-synonymous single nucleotide variants (nsSNP) variants were predicted to affect protein functions. The InDels produced 1055 coding variants and 454 non-3n length variants, and their size ranged from -49 and 49 bp. We further analysed the gene pathways of 8 novel coding variants found in the 3 genomes and revealed 5 genes involved in various diseases and biological pathways. We found that the Moroccan genomes share 92.78% of African ancestry, and 92.86% of Non-Finnish European ancestry, according to the gnomAD database. Then, population structure inference, by admixture analysis and network-based approach, revealed that the studied genomes form a mixed population structure, highlighting the increased genetic diversity in Morocco.