title: The population history of the Croatian linguistic minority of Molise (southern Italy): a maternal view.
abstract: This study examines the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of the Croatian-speaking minority of Molise and evaluates its potential genetic relatedness to the neighbouring Italian groups and the Croatian parental population. Intermatch, genetic distance, and admixture analyses highlighted the genetic similarity between the Croatians of Molise and the neighbouring Italian populations and demonstrated that the Croatian-Italian ethnic minority presents features lying between Croatians and Italians. This finding was confirmed by a phylogeographic approach, which revealed both the prevalence of Croatian and the penetrance of Italian maternal lineages in the Croatian community of Molise. These results suggest that there was no reproductive isolation between the two geographically proximate, yet culturally distinct populations living in Italy. The gene flow between the Croatian-Italians and the surrounding Italian populations indicate, therefore, that ethnic consciousness has not created reproductive barriers and that the Croatian-speaking minority of Molise does not represent a reproductively isolated entity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Babalini
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martínez-Labarga
authors.forename: Helle-Viivi
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Tolk
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kivisild
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giampaolo
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tarsi
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Contini
authors.forename: Lovorka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barać
authors.forename: Branka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Janićijević
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martinović Klarić
authors.forename: Marijana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pericić
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sujoldzić
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villems
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: Pavao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rudan
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rickards
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D017523:Croatia / Q000208:ethnology; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000208:ethnology; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D008957:Models, Genetic
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial