Close genetic relationship between Semitic-speaking and Indo-European-speaking groups in Iran.
As part of a continuing investigation of the extent to which the genetic and linguistic relationships of populations are correlated, we analyzed mtDNA HV1 sequences, eleven Y chromosome bi-allelic markers, and 9 Y-STR loci in two neighboring groups from the southwest of Iran who speak languages belonging to different families: Indo-European-speaking Bakhtiari, and Semitic-speaking Arabs. Both mtDNA and the Y chromosome, showed a close relatedness of these groups with each other and with neighboring geographic groups, irrespective of the language spoken. Moreover, Semitic-speaking North African groups are more distant genetically from Semitic-speaking groups from the Near East and Iran. Thus, geographical proximity better explains genetic relatedness between populations than does linguistic relatedness in this part of the world.
Nasidze
I
I
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, Germany. nasidze@eva.mpg.de
Quinque
D
D
Rahmani
M
M
Alemohamad
S A
SA
Stoneking
M
M
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018912:Arabs / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial