Discordant Patterns of mtDNA and Ethno-Linguistic Variation in 14 Iranian Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Background/Aims: Present-day Iran has long represented a natural hub for the expansion of human genes and cultures. That being so, the overlapping of prehistoric and more recent demographic events interacting at different time scales with geographical and cultural barriers has yielded a tangled patchwork of anthropological types within this narrow area. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate this ethnic mosaic by depicting a fine-grained picture of the Iranian mitochondrial landscape. Methods: mtDNA variability at both HVS-I and coding regions was surveyed in 718 unrelated individuals belonging to 14 Iranian ethnic groups characterized by different languages, religions and patterns of subsistence. Results: A discordant pattern of high ethno-linguistic and low mtDNA heterogeneity was observed for the whole examined Iranian sample. Geographical factors and cultural/linguistic differences actually represented barriers to matrilineal gene flow only for the Baloch, Lur from Yasouj, Zoroastrian and Jewish groups, for which unusual reduced levels of mtDNA variability and high inter-population distances were found. Conclusion: Deep rooting genealogies and endogamy in a few of the examined ethnic groups might have preserved ancestral lineages that can be representative of Proto-Indo-Iranian or prehistoric mitochondrial profiles which survived relatively recent external contributions to the Iranian gene pool.

Mitochondrial haplogroups and control region polymorphisms in Kaposi's sarcoma patients

“…After adjustment, a statistical association was found between the UK cluster and lower risk of classic KS, suggesting that the UK cluster might play a protective role in KS development. This positive correlation between U haplogroup or UK cluster and lower risk of KS not only observed in comparison to our control samples, but also this association was seen when KS patients compared to controls come from previous studies (Table ) [Derenko et al, ; Farjadian et al, ; Quintana‐Murci et al, ].…”

“…The distribution of haplogroups among the control group was in accordance with previous mtDNA analysis studies in Iranian population (See Table ). In general, H and U haplogroups were found to be dominant all over Iran, followed by the other Western European haplogroups including T, J, K, I, W, X, and V [Derenko et al, ; Farjadian et al, ; Nasidze et al, ; Quintana‐Murci et al, ]. Differences observed between classic KS cases and controls did not reach statistical significance for almost all haplogroups, except for U (OR = 0.156, 95%CI = [0.32–0.75], P = 0.0198) haplogroup that was underrepresented among these patients.…”

HLA class I variation in Iranian Lur and Kurd populations: high haplotype and allotype diversity with an abundance of KIR ligands

“…In addition, these studies indicated a genetic affinity of the Lur and Kurd with other Iranians ethnics, Macedonians, Greeks and Italians. The mitochondrial DNA analysis also showed the Yasuj has some similarity to Arabs and Persians, not seen for Lorestan and Kurd . In the study described here we have defined at high resolution HLA class I variation in the same Kurd, Yasuj and Lorestan populations, as well as a third Lur population, Lordegan (Figure ).…”

The genetic legacy of the Yaghnobis: A witness of an ancient Eurasian ancestry in the historically reshuffled central Asian gene pool

“…Certainly, they appeared to be located in the geographical cline of Eurasian genetic variability and they seemed quite homogenous according to their distribution in the PCA plot (Figure a). On the other hand, in the datasets utilized for uniparental markers analyses (Supporting Information Tables S1 and S2), the sampling was definitely more detailed and accurate for the populations which were historically or linguistically connected with the Yaghnobis and consequently useful to elucidate the related pattern of genetic variation, as in the case of groups from the Iranian plateau (Di Cristofaro et al, ; Farjadian et al, ; Metspalu et al, ). Overall, the pattern highlighted by ADMIXTURE analysis (i.e., higher similarity of the Yaghnobis to the Tajiks than to Iranians) was mainly accounted for by the low Anatolian Neolithic ancestry fraction observable in the Yaghnobis (8%) as compared to modern Iranians (25%).…”