Fig. 2: A map illustrates that Egypt is centrally located in a region with the highest prevalence of the p.Gly2019Ser pathogenic variant globally.

The map’s arrows depict potential migration routes through which this pathogenic variant could have been introduced to Egypt. We speculate that the p.Gly2019Ser pathogenic variant might have been brought to Egypt via east-west migration during the movements of Islamic Arab and North African Berbers, known as the Maghrebi Effect (red arrow), or through maritime invasion and trades activities across the Mediterranean involving the Byzantines, Vandals, Romans, Greeks, and Phoenicians (orange, blue, yellow, gray, and green arrows), known as the “back to Africa” gene flow.