The place of Slovakian paternal diversity in the clinal European landscape.
BACKGROUND
Several demographic events have been postulated to explain the contemporaneous structure of European genetic diversity. First, an initial settlement of the continent by anatomically modern humans; second, the re-settlement of northern latitudes after the Last Glacial Maximum; third, the demic diffusion of Neolithic farmers from the Near East; and, fourth, several historical events such as the Slavic migration.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to provide a more integrated picture of male-specific genetic relationships of Slovakia within the broader pan-European genetic landscape.


METHODS
This study analysed a new Y-chromosome data-set (156 individuals) for both SNP and STR polymorphisms in population samples from five different Slovakian localities.


RESULTS
It was found that the male diversity of Slovakia is embedded in the clinal pattern of the major R1a and R1b clades extending over the continent and a similar pattern of population structure is found with Y-specific SNP or STR variation.


CONCLUSIONS
The highly significant correlation between the results based on fast evolving STRs on one hand and slow evolving SNPs on the other hand suggests a recent timeframe for the settlement of the area.
a Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science , Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic .
Jana
J
Nováčková
b Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology , Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic , Czech Republic .
Dagmar
D
Dreslerová
c Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic , Czech Republic , and.
Viktor
V
Černý
d Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, Department of Genetics and Evolution , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.
Estella S
ES
Poloni
D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D058974:Phylogeography; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018154:Slovakia
Genetic structure; Slovakia; Y-SNP; Y-STR; Y-chromosome