Genetic affinities among the historical provinces of Romania and Central Europe as revealed by an mtDNA analysis

BMC Genetics

Research Article

Montserrat Hervella¹  Petru Cianga²  Alina Martinescu³  Claudia Bănescu⁴  Sorina Schipor⁵  Relu Cocoş⁶  Florina Raicu⁷  Mihai Constantinescu⁸  Roxana Popescu⁹ 

[1] Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bizkaia, Spain;Department of Immunology, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania;Department of Medical Genetics, Ovidius University, Faculty of Medicine, Constanța, Romania;Department of Medical Genetics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Tîrgu Mureş, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania;National Institute of Endocrinology “C. I. Parhon”, Bucharest, Romania;“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chair of Medical Genetics, 19-21, Prof. dr. Dimitrie Gerota St., 020032, Bucharest, Romania;Genome Life Research Center, Bucharest, Romania;“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Chair of Medical Genetics, 19-21, Prof. dr. Dimitrie Gerota St., 020032, Bucharest, Romania;“Francisc I. Rainer” Institute of Anthropology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania;“Francisc I. Rainer” Institute of Anthropology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania;“Victor Babeş” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timişoara, Romania;

关键词: Mitochondrial DNA;    Romanian provinces;    Genetic diversity;    Transylvania;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12863-017-0487-5

 received in 2016-08-03, accepted in 2017-03-02,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAs a major crossroads between Asia and Europe, Romania has experienced continuous migration and invasion episodes. The precise routes may have been shaped by the topology of the territory and had diverse impacts on the genetic structure of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in historical Romanian provinces. We studied 714 Romanians from all historical provinces, Wallachia, Dobrudja, Moldavia, and Transylvania, by analyzing the mtDNA control region and coding markers to encompass the complete landscape of mtDNA haplogroups.ResultsWe observed a homogenous distribution of the majority of haplogroups among the Romanian provinces and a clear association with the European populations. A principal component analysis and multidimensional scaling analysis supported the genetic similarity of the Wallachia, Moldavia, and Dobrudja groups with the Balkans, while the Transylvania population was closely related to Central European groups. These findings could be explained by the topology of the Romanian territory, where the Carpathian Arch played an important role in migration patterns. Signals of Asian maternal lineages were observed in all Romanian historical provinces, indicating gene flow along the migration routes through East Asia and Europe.ConclusionsOur current findings based on the mtDNA analysis of populations in historical provinces of Romania suggest similarity between populations in Transylvania and Central Europe, supported both by the observed clines in haplogroup frequencies for several European and Asian maternal lineages and MDS analyses.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017