Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine

Precision medicine has brought new hopes for patients around the world with the applications of novel technologies for understanding genetics of complex diseases and their translation into clinical services. Such applications however require a foundation of skills, knowledge and infrastructure to tr...

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Autores principales:	Anisah W. Ghoorah, Toto Chaplain, Rakotoarivony Rindra, Smita Goorah, Ganessen Chinien, Yasmina Jaufeerally-Fakim
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	precision medicine genetics South West Indian Ocean demography population structure disease variants Genetics QH426-470
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1132a8a280194bd8bf50f081dbb2526e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1132a8a280194bd8bf50f081dbb2526e2021-11-30T20:00:12ZPopulation Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine1664-802110.3389/fgene.2021.758563https://doaj.org/article/1132a8a280194bd8bf50f081dbb2526e2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.758563/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-8021Precision medicine has brought new hopes for patients around the world with the applications of novel technologies for understanding genetics of complex diseases and their translation into clinical services. Such applications however require a foundation of skills, knowledge and infrastructure to translate genetics for health care. The crucial element is no doubt the availability of genomics data for the target populations, which is seriously lacking for most parts of Africa. We discuss here why it is vital to prioritize genomics data for the South West Indian Ocean region where a mosaic of ethnicities co-exist. The islands of the SWIO, which comprise Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros, have been the scene for major explorations and trade since the 17th century being on the route to Asia. This part of the world has lived through active passage of slaves from East Africa to Arabia and further. Today’s demography of the islands is a diverse mix of ancestries including European, African and Asian. The extent of admixtures has yet to be resolved. Except for a few studies in Madagascar, there is very little published data on human genetics for these countries. Isolation and small population sizes have likely resulted in reduced genetic variation and possible founder effects. There is a significant prevalence of diabetes, particularly in individuals of Indian descent, while breast and prostate cancers are on the rise. The island of La Reunion is a French overseas territory with a high standard of health care and close ties to Mauritius. Its demography is comparable to that of Mauritius but with a predominantly mixed population and a smaller proportion of people of Indian descent. On the other hand, Madagascar’s African descendants inhabit mostly the lower coastal zones of the West and South regions, while the upper highlands are occupied by peoples of mixed African-Indonesian ancestries. Historical records confirm the Austronesian contribution to the Madagascar genomes. With the rapid progress in genomic medicine, there is a growing demand for sequencing services in the clinical settings to explore the incidence of variants in candidate disease genes and other markers. Genome sequence data has become a priority in order to understand the population sub-structures and to identify specific pathogenic variants among the different groups of inhabitants on the islands. Genomic data is increasingly being used to advise families at risk and propose diagnostic screening measures to enhance the success of therapies. This paper discusses the complexity of the islands’ populations and argues for the needs for genotyping and understanding the genetic factors associated with disease risks. The benefits to patients and improvement in health services through a concerted regional effort are depicted. Some private patients are having recourse to external facilities for molecular profiling with no return of data for research. Evidence of disease variants through sequencing represents a valuable source of medical data that can guide policy decisions at the national level. There are presently no such records for future implementation of strategies for genomic medicine.Anisah W. GhoorahToto ChaplainRakotoarivony RindraSmita GoorahGanessen ChinienYasmina Jaufeerally-FakimFrontiers Media S.A.articleprecision medicinegeneticsSouth West Indian Oceandemographypopulation structuredisease variantsGeneticsQH426-470ENFrontiers in Genetics, Vol 12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	precision medicine genetics South West Indian Ocean demography population structure disease variants Genetics QH426-470
spellingShingle	precision medicine genetics South West Indian Ocean demography population structure disease variants Genetics QH426-470 Anisah W. Ghoorah Toto Chaplain Rakotoarivony Rindra Smita Goorah Ganessen Chinien Yasmina Jaufeerally-Fakim Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
description	Precision medicine has brought new hopes for patients around the world with the applications of novel technologies for understanding genetics of complex diseases and their translation into clinical services. Such applications however require a foundation of skills, knowledge and infrastructure to translate genetics for health care. The crucial element is no doubt the availability of genomics data for the target populations, which is seriously lacking for most parts of Africa. We discuss here why it is vital to prioritize genomics data for the South West Indian Ocean region where a mosaic of ethnicities co-exist. The islands of the SWIO, which comprise Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros, have been the scene for major explorations and trade since the 17th century being on the route to Asia. This part of the world has lived through active passage of slaves from East Africa to Arabia and further. Today’s demography of the islands is a diverse mix of ancestries including European, African and Asian. The extent of admixtures has yet to be resolved. Except for a few studies in Madagascar, there is very little published data on human genetics for these countries. Isolation and small population sizes have likely resulted in reduced genetic variation and possible founder effects. There is a significant prevalence of diabetes, particularly in individuals of Indian descent, while breast and prostate cancers are on the rise. The island of La Reunion is a French overseas territory with a high standard of health care and close ties to Mauritius. Its demography is comparable to that of Mauritius but with a predominantly mixed population and a smaller proportion of people of Indian descent. On the other hand, Madagascar’s African descendants inhabit mostly the lower coastal zones of the West and South regions, while the upper highlands are occupied by peoples of mixed African-Indonesian ancestries. Historical records confirm the Austronesian contribution to the Madagascar genomes. With the rapid progress in genomic medicine, there is a growing demand for sequencing services in the clinical settings to explore the incidence of variants in candidate disease genes and other markers. Genome sequence data has become a priority in order to understand the population sub-structures and to identify specific pathogenic variants among the different groups of inhabitants on the islands. Genomic data is increasingly being used to advise families at risk and propose diagnostic screening measures to enhance the success of therapies. This paper discusses the complexity of the islands’ populations and argues for the needs for genotyping and understanding the genetic factors associated with disease risks. The benefits to patients and improvement in health services through a concerted regional effort are depicted. Some private patients are having recourse to external facilities for molecular profiling with no return of data for research. Evidence of disease variants through sequencing represents a valuable source of medical data that can guide policy decisions at the national level. There are presently no such records for future implementation of strategies for genomic medicine.
format	article
author	Anisah W. Ghoorah Toto Chaplain Rakotoarivony Rindra Smita Goorah Ganessen Chinien Yasmina Jaufeerally-Fakim
author_facet	Anisah W. Ghoorah Toto Chaplain Rakotoarivony Rindra Smita Goorah Ganessen Chinien Yasmina Jaufeerally-Fakim
author_sort	Anisah W. Ghoorah
title	Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
title_short	Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
title_full	Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
title_fullStr	Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
title_full_unstemmed	Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine
title_sort	population structure of the south west indian ocean islands: implications for precision medicine
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1132a8a280194bd8bf50f081dbb2526e
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Population Structure of the South West Indian Ocean Islands: Implications for Precision Medicine

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