title: Maritime route of colonization of Europe.
abstract: The Neolithic populations, which colonized Europe approximately 9,000 y ago, presumably migrated from Near East to Anatolia and from there to Central Europe through Thrace and the Balkans. An alternative route would have been island hopping across the Southern European coast. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed genome-wide DNA polymorphisms on populations bordering the Mediterranean coast and from Anatolia and mainland Europe. We observe a striking structure correlating genes with geography around the Mediterranean Sea with characteristic east to west clines of gene flow. Using population network analysis, we also find that the gene flow from Anatolia to Europe was through Dodecanese, Crete, and the Southern European coast, compatible with the hypothesis that a maritime coastal route was mainly used for the migration of Neolithic farmers to Europe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece;
authors.forename: Peristera
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paschou
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180;
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Drineas
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, George Papanicolaou Hospital, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece;
authors.forename: Evangelia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yannaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, 711 13 Crete, Greece;
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Razou
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, 711 13 Crete, Greece;
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece;
authors.forename: Fotis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tsetsos
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece;
authors.forename: Shanmukha Sampath
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Padmanabhuni
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, 711 13 Crete, Greece;
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michalodimitrakis
authors.affiliation: Unità di Ricerca P. Cutino, Ospedali Riuniti Villa Sofia-Cervello, 90146 Palermo, Italy;
authors.forename: Maria C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Renda
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, 11010 Belgrade, Serbia;
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavlovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, George Papanicolaou Hospital, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece;
authors.forename: Achilles
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anagnostopoulos
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; and.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stamatoyannopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511.
authors.forename: Kenneth K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; and gstam@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stamatoyannopoulos
mesh_terms: D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D051456:Gene Flow; D005826:Genetics, Medical; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic