title: The genetic legacy of the expansion of Turkic-speaking nomads across Eurasia.
abstract: The Turkic peoples represent a diverse collection of ethnic groups defined by the Turkic languages. These groups have dispersed across a vast area, including Siberia, Northwest China, Central Asia, East Europe, the Caucasus, Anatolia, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. The origin and early dispersal history of the Turkic peoples is disputed, with candidates for their ancient homeland ranging from the Transcaspian steppe to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. Previous genetic studies have not identified a clear-cut unifying genetic signal for the Turkic peoples, which lends support for language replacement rather than demic diffusion as the model for the Turkic language's expansion. We addressed the genetic origin of 373 individuals from 22 Turkic-speaking populations, representing their current geographic range, by analyzing genome-wide high-density genotype data. In agreement with the elite dominance model of language expansion most of the Turkic peoples studied genetically resemble their geographic neighbors. However, western Turkic peoples sampled across West Eurasia shared an excess of long chromosomal tracts that are identical by descent (IBD) with populations from present-day South Siberia and Mongolia (SSM), an area where historians center a series of early Turkic and non-Turkic steppe polities. While SSM matching IBD tracts (> 1cM) are also observed in non-Turkic populations, Turkic peoples demonstrate a higher percentage of such tracts (p-values ≤ 0.01) compared to their non-Turkic neighbors. Finally, we used the ALDER method and inferred admixture dates (~9th-17th centuries) that overlap with the Turkic migrations of the 5th-16th centuries. Thus, our results indicate historical admixture among Turkic peoples, and the recent shared ancestry with modern populations in SSM supports one of the hypothesized homelands for their nomadic Turkic and related Mongolic ancestors.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Bayazit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yunusbayev
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mait
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Metspalu
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Ene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Metspalu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valeev
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Litvinov
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Ruslan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Valiev
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Vita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Akhmetova
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Medical Genetics, RAMS, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Balanovska
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Medical Genetics, RAMS, Moscow, Russia; Vavilov Institute for General Genetics, RAS, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Balanovsky
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
authors.forename: Shahlo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turdikulova
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
authors.forename: Dilbar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dalimova
authors.affiliation: Mongolian Academy of Medical Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Pagbajabyn
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nymadawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ardeshir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahmanimehr
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia; Laboratory of Ethnogenomics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Hovhannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sahakyan
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Kristiina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tambets
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Yakut Research Center of Complex Medical Problems, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia; Laboratory of Molecular Biology, North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia.
authors.forename: Sardana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fedorova
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Yakut Research Center of Complex Medical Problems, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia; Laboratory of Molecular Biology, North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barashkov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Khidiyatova
authors.affiliation: Estonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Gene Technology Workgroup, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Evelin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mihailov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khusainova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Internal Medicine, SB RAMS, Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Larisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Damba
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Magadan, Russia.
authors.forename: Miroslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Derenko
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Magadan, Russia.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Malyarchuk
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Osipova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Internal Medicine, SB RAMS, Novosibirsk, Russia; Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voevoda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Ethnogenomics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Levon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yepiskoposyan
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kivisild
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Research Centre, RAS, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia; Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
authors.forename: Elza
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Khusnutdinova
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology group, Estonian Biocentre, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villems
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history; D002681:China; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics*; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe; D051456:Gene Flow; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D063426:Human Migration / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008877:Middle East; D008986:Mongolia; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012800:Siberia