Pharmacogenomics (Epub ahead of print) ISSN 1462-2416 part of Pharmacogenomics Research Article 10.2217/PGS.15.24 © Future Medicine Ltd Aim: To analyze the distribution of CYP2D6 variants in two ethnically-related Mexican Native and Mestizo populations cohabitating the same econiche and their relationships with a distant Mestizo community. Materials & methods: 314 volunteers were genotyped for CYP2D6 gene variants (*2, *3, *4, *6, *10, *13, *17 , *35 and *41) using predesigned TaqMan probes. CYP2D6*5 and CYP2D6 wtxN were assessed by XL-PCR. Results: CYP2D6*1, *2, *4 and *10 variants represented above 80.9% of total alleles. Chiapanecan communities showed low allele diversity compared with the northeastern population. Principal component analyses demonstrated clustering of both Mestizo populations. Variants associated to ultrarapid and poor metabolism were rare in Natives. Conclusion: Sharing of CYP2D6 alleles in both Chiapanecan populations suggests an ongoing gene-flow. Original submitted 8 December 2014; Revision submitted 13 February 2015 Keywords: CYP2D6฀•฀Mestizo฀•฀Native฀American฀•฀PCA฀analysis฀•฀population฀ pharmacogenetics Cytochrome P450 enzymes play an impor- tant role in xenobiotics metabolism [1] . A key member of this group is the CYP2D6 enzyme (gene locus: 22q13.2), involved in the bio- transformation of about 20–25% of the exogenous and endogenous cell compounds, including some antidepressants, antipsychot- ics, antiarrhythmics, opiate analgesics, anti- emetics and β-blockers. Such drugs have a narrow therapeutic window that could be modified by factors as age, enzyme induction or inhibition, co-treatments and gene poly- morphisms, including whole gene deletions and duplications resulting in enzymes with increased, poor or null activity [2] . More than 50 CYP2D6 allelic variants are reported that determine a huge range of enzyme activity [3] . CYP2D6 alleles impacting the functional phenotype are those involved in protein con- formational changes and gene copy-number variants, including CYP2D6*3, CYP2D6*4, CYP2D6*4M, CYP2D6*5 and CYP2D6*6 alleles conferring null to low activity; CYP2D6*10, CYP2D6*17 and CYP2D6*41 associated to reduced activity; CYP2D6*1 and CYP2D6*2 related to normal activity and gene duplications (wtxN) associated to increased activity. These alleles are useful for functional phenotypic predictions in about 90% of Caucasian subjects [4] . CYP2D6 genotypes may predict four functional groups with predicted genotypes ultrarapid (UM) with more than three functional gene copies, extensive (EM) with at least one func- tional allele, intermediate in subjects carry- ing an allele with reduced or null activity and poor metabolizers (PM) in subjects carrying two reduced or inactive alleles. It has been demonstrated that these functional pheno- types could be correlated to pharmacological poor outcomes and adverse events. The wide spectrum of CYP2D6 gene variations also allows for the opportunity to develop population studies, which may be useful to predict pharmacological outputs in a defined community. Mestizos and Native Interethnic relationships of CYP2D6 variants in native and Mestizo populations sharing the same ecosystem Yadira Xitlalli Perez-Paramo 1 , Francisco Hernandez-Cabrera 2 , Pedro Dorado 3,4 , Adrian Llerena 3 , Sergio Muñoz-Jimenez 5 , Rocio Ortiz-Lopez 1 & Augusto Rojas-Martinez* ,1 1 Departamento฀de฀Bioquímica฀y฀Medicina฀ Molecular,฀Facultad฀de฀Medicina฀&฀ Centro฀de฀Investigación฀y฀Desarrollo฀ en฀Ciencias฀de฀la฀Salud,฀Universidad฀ Autónoma฀de฀Nuevo฀León,฀Carlos฀ Canseco฀S.N.,฀Colonia฀Mitras฀Centro,฀ Monterrey,฀C.P.฀64460,฀Mexico 2 Centro฀de฀Investigación฀en฀Matemáticas,฀ Monterrey,฀Mexico 3 CICAB,฀Clinical฀Research฀Centre฀ Extremadura฀University฀Hospital฀&฀ Medical฀School,฀Badajoz฀06080,฀Spain 4 University฀of฀Extremadura,฀Plasencia,฀ Spain 5 Clínica฀Esquipulas,฀San฀Cristóbal฀de฀las฀ Casas,฀Mexico *Author฀for฀correspondence: Tel.:฀+52฀811฀340฀4370 Fax:฀+52฀818฀333฀7747 arojasmtz@gmail.com For reprint orders, please contact: reprints@futuremedicine.com For reprint orders, please contact: reprints@futuremedicine.com