Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers.
The Irish Travellers are a population with a history of nomadism; consanguineous unions are common and they are socially isolated from the surrounding, 'settled' Irish people. Low-resolution genetic analysis suggests a common Irish origin between the settled and the Traveller populations. What is not known, however, is the extent of population structure within the Irish Travellers, the time of divergence from the general Irish population, or the extent of autozygosity. Using a sample of 50 Irish Travellers, 143 European Roma, 2232 settled Irish, 2039 British and 6255 European or world-wide individuals, we demonstrate evidence for population substructure within the Irish Traveller population, and estimate a time of divergence before the Great Famine of 1845-1852. We quantify the high levels of autozygosity, which are comparable to levels previously described in Orcadian 1st/2ndcousin offspring, and finally show the Irish Traveller population has no particular genetic links to the European Roma. The levels of autozygosity and distinct Irish origins have implications for disease mapping within Ireland, while the population structure and divergence inform on social history.
Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Edmund
E
Gilbert
Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Shai
S
Carmi
School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Sean
S
Ennis
Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, Scotland.|MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, Scotland.
James F
JF
Wilson
Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Gianpiero L
GL
Cavalleri
D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D044465:White People