Abstract: To analyze the spatial genetic structure of the HLA- A-B loci in the Chinese population and to provide evidence for studying questions in population genetics and anthropology, such as population migration, national blending, and to provide evidence for designing multi-epitope vaccines. MethodPrinciple component analysis and spatial interpolation method of the Geographical Information System were used to get synthetic indexes. Results The first principle component of the HLA -A loci in the Chinese population has obvious geographic genetic structure from north to south. South of the Yellow River, the first principle component cline is mainly latitudinal; while north of the Yellow River, it is generally from northwest to southeast in the northwestern area of China, and from northeast to southwest in the northeastern area of China. The spatial genetic structure of the HLA- B loci has more local variances than that of the HLA - A loci. ConclusionThe spatial genetic structure of the HLA-AB loci in the Chinese population shows an evident pattern of geographic genetic cline from north to south. Differences of the HLA- A-B loci′s spatial genetic structure among populations are much more evident in southern Chinese populations than in northern Chinese populations. The HLA-B loci have much more evident characteristics of spatial heterogeneity in genetic structure than the HLA-A loci.

Key words: Chinese population, Geographical information system, Human leukocyte antigen, Spatial genetic structure