Genetic Structure of Mongolic-Speaking Kalmyks

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol73/iss6/4.Genetic polymorphisms of blood groups ABO and RH D, serum proteins HP, TF, and GC, and red cell enzymes ACP1, PGM1, ESD, GLO1, and SOD-A have been reported for three tribes (Torguts, Derbets, and Buzavs) of the Volga’s Kalmyk-Oyrats. The Kalmyks exhibit genetic markers that are characteristic of Central Asian populations, namely, high allelic frequencies for ABO*B, TF*C2, GC*1F, ESD*2, and GLO1*2, and the rare incidence of individuals with the RH-negative phenotype. Genetic distance measures reveal that close genetic affinities exist between the Derbets and Buzavs, but both populations differ significantly from the Torguts. Collectively as an ethnic group, the Kalmyks genetically resemble the contemporary Buryats of the Baikal region of southeastern Siberia and the Mongols of Mongolia. The transplantation of the Kalmyk-Oyrats from their homeland near Lake Baikal to their current residence (4500 km) near the Caspian Sea and their subsequent isolation for more than 300 years have not appreciably altered the gene frequencies from the parental populations for frequencies of standard genetic markers

Population Genetics and Structure of Buryats from the Lake Baikal Region of Siberia

This is the publisher's version, which is also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org.See article for abstract

Mitochondrial DNA evidence for admixed origins of central Siberian populations

International audienceThe Yakuts of northeastern Siberia are a Turkic-speaking population of horse- and cattle-breeders surrounded by Tungusic-speaking reindeer-herders and hunter-gatherers. Archaeological and ethnohistorical data suggest that Yakuts stem from a common ancestral population with the Buryats living near Lake Baikal. To address this hypothesis, we obtained sequences of the first hypervariable segment (HV1) of the mitochondrial DNA control region from Yakuts and Buryats and compared these with sequences from other Eurasian populations. The mtDNA results show that the Buryats have close affinities with both Central Asian Turkic groups and Mongols, while the Yakuts have close affinities with northeastern Siberian, Tungusic-speaking Evenks and south Siberian, Turkic-speaking Tuvans. This different ancestry of the Yakuts and the Tuvans (compared with other Turkic-speaking groups) most likely reflects extensive admixture that occurred between Turkic-speaking steppe groups and Evenks as the former migrated into Siberia. Moreover, the Yakuts are unique among Siberian populations in having a high number of haplotypes shared exclusively with Europeans, suggesting, contrary to the historical record, that occasionally Yakut men took Russian women as wives

Genetic Architecture of a Small, Recently Aggregated Aleut Population: Bering Island

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found here http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol82/iss5/12/The fishing community of Bering Island, located in the Russian Commander Islands off the Kamchatka Peninsula, was originally founded by a small number of Russian soldiers and merchants, along with Aleuts forcibly relocated from the western region of the Aleutian archipelago. The purpose of this study is to characterize the genetic variation of Bering Island inhabitants for autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosome DNA and classic genetic markers and to investigate the genetic impact of the 19th-century founding and subsequent demographic events on this heterogeneous community. Our results show a loss of diversity among maternal lineages in the Bering Aleut population, with fixation of mtDNA haplogroup D, as revealed by median-joining network analysis and mismatch differences. Conversely, paternal haplotypes exhibit an increase in diversity and the presence of a substantial number of non-Native lineages. Admixture results, based on autosomal STR data, indicate that parental contributions to the mixed Aleut population of Bering are approximately 60% Aleut and 40% Russian. Classic genetic markers show affinities between the Bering Island Aleuts and the other historically founded Aleut communities of St. Paul and St. George in the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. This study demonstrates that the opposing evolutionary forces of genetic drift and gene flow acted on the maternal and paternal lineages, respectively, to shape the genetic structure of the present-day inhabitants of Bering Island

Haplotype frequencies at the DRD2 locus in populations of the East European Plain

Abstract Background It was demonstrated previously that the three-locus RFLP haplotype, TaqI B-TaqI D-TaqI A (B-D-A), at the DRD2 locus constitutes a powerful genetic marker and probably reflects the most ancient dispersal of anatomically modern humans. Results We investigated TaqI B, BclI, MboI, TaqI D, and TaqI A RFLPs in 17 contemporary populations of the East European Plain and Siberia. Most of these populations belong to the Indo-European or Uralic language families. We identified three common haplotypes, which occurred in more than 90% of chromosomes investigated. The frequencies of the haplotypes differed according to linguistic and geographical affiliation. Conclusion Populations in the northwestern (Byelorussians from Mjadel'), northern (Russians from Mezen' and Oshevensk), and eastern (Russians from Puchezh) parts of the East European Plain had relatively high frequencies of haplotype B2-D2-A2, which may reflect admixture with Uralic-speaking populations that inhabited all of these regions in the Early Middle Ages.</p

The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic

The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions. Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago