title: [Diversity of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in ethnic populations of the Volga-Ural region of Russia].
abstract: The mtDNA polymorphism was analyzed in eight ethnic groups (N = 979) of the Volga-Ural region. Most mtDNA variants belonged to haplogroups H, U, T, J, W, I, R, and N1 characteristic of West Eurasian populations. The most frequent were haplogroups H (12-42%) and U (18-44%). East Eurasian mtDNA types (A, B, Y, F, M, N9) were also observed. Genetic diversity was higher in Turkic than in Finno-Ugric populations. The frequency of mtDNA types characteristic of Siberian and Central Asian populations substantially increased in the ethnic groups living closer to the Urals, a boundary between Europe and Asia. Geographic distances, rather than linguistic barriers, were assumed to play the major role in distribution of mtDNA types in the Volga-Ural region. Thus, as concerns the maternal lineage, the Finno-Ugric populations of the region proved to be more similar to their Turkic neighbors rather than to linguistically related Balto-Finnish ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, 450054 Russia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bermisheva
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tambets
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villems
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Khusnutdinova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001486:Bashkiria / Q000208:ethnology; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004957:Estonia / Q000208:ethnology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012426:Russia / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial