title: Genes and languages in Europe: an analysis of mitochondrial lineages.
abstract: When mitochondrial DNA sequence variation is analyzed from a sample of 637 individuals in 14 European populations, most populations show little differentiation with respect to each other. However, the Saami distinguish themselves by a comparatively large amount of sequence difference when compared with the other populations, by a different distribution of sequence diversity within the population, and by the occurrence of particular sequence motifs. Thus, the Saami seem to have a long history distinct from other European populations. Linguistic affiliations are not reflected in the patterns of relationships of mitochondrial lineages in European populations, whereas prior studies of nuclear gene frequencies have shown a correlation between genetic and linguistic evolution. It is argued that this apparent contradiction is attributable to the fact that genetic lineages and gene frequencies reflect different time perspectives on population history, the latter being more in concordance with linguistic evolution.
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. sajanti@zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sajantila
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lahermo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anttinen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukka
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sistonen
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Savontaus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aula
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beckman
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tranebjaerg
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gedde-Dahl
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Issel-Tarver
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: DiRienzo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pääbo
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005387:Finland; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005819:Genetic Markers; D015894:Genome, Human; D049711:History, Modern 1601-; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers