Paternal and maternal lineages in the Balkans show a homogeneous landscape over linguistic barriers, except for the isolated Aromuns.
The Balkan Peninsula is a complex cultural mosaic comprising populations speaking languages from several branches of the Indo-European family and Altaic, as well as culturally-defined minorities such as the Aromuns who speak a Romance language. The current cultural and linguistic landscape is a palimpsest in which different peoples have contributed their cultures in a historical succession. We have sought to find any evidence of genetic stratification related to those cultural layers by typing both mtDNA and Y chromosomes, in Albanians, Romanians, Macedonians, Greeks, and five Aromun populations. We have paid special attention to the Aromuns, and sought to test genetically various hypotheses on their origins. MtDNA and Y-chromosome haplogroup frequencies in the Balkans were found to be similar to those elsewhere in Europe. MtDNA sequences and Y-chromosome STR haplotypes revealed decreased variation in some Aromun populations. Variation within Aromun populations was the primary source of genetic differentiation. Y-chromosome haplotypes tended to be shared across Aromuns, but not across non-Aromun populations. These results point to a possible common origin of the Aromuns, with drift acting to differentiate the separate Aromun communities. The homogeneity of Balkan populations prevented testing for the origin of the Aromuns, although a significant Roman contribution can be ruled out.
Bosch
E
E
Unitat de Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
Calafell
F
F
González-Neira
A
A
Flaiz
C
C
Mateu
E
E
Scheil
H-G
HG
Huckenbeck
W
W
Efremovska
L
L
Mikerezi
I
I
Xirotiris
N
N
Grasa
C
C
Schmidt
H
H
Comas
D
D
D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005061:Europe, Eastern; D040961:Genetic Drift; D005819:Genetic Markers; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers