Y‐chromosomal variation in the Czech Republic

Abstract

To analyze the contribution of the Czech population to the Y-chromosome diversity landscape of Europe and to reconstruct past demographic events, we typed 257 males from five locations for 21 UEPs. Moreover, 141 carriers of the three most common haplogroups were typed for 10 microsatellites and coalescent analyses applied. Sixteen Hg's characterized by derived alleles were identified, the most common being R1a-SRY(10831) and P-DYS257*(xR1a). The pool of haplogroups within I-M170 represented the third most common clade. Overall, the degree of population structure was low. The ages for Hg I-M170, P-DYS257*(xR1a), and R1a-SRY(10831) ap peared to be comparable and compatible with their presence during or soon after the LGM. A signal of population growth beginning in the first millennium B.C. was detected. Its similarity among the three most common Hg's indicated that growth was characteristic for a gene pool that already contained all of them. The Czech population appears to be influenced, to a very moderate extent, by genetic inputs from outside Europe in the post-Neolithic and historical times. Population growth postdated the archaeologically documented introduction of Neolithic technology and the estimated central value coincides with a period of repeated changes driven by the development of metal technologies and the associated social and trade organization.

Similarities and distinctions in Y chromosome gene pool of Western Slavs

“…Meanwhile, another study has shown the existence of significant differences between Poles and Czechs as far as Y-SNP polymorphism is concerned (Luca et al, 2007). Moreover, the same study reports that Czech populations display frequencies of Y chromosome haplogroups intermediate to those of Poles and Germans, mainly due to the lower frequency of R1a characteristic among Slavs and higher Table 2).…”

Ancient DNA reveals male diffusion through the Neolithic Mediterranean route

“…Few ancient data are currently available on Y-haplogroups to confirm this hypothesis, but G2a haplotypes have been found in other prehistoric remains; two ancient DNA studies revealed the presence of G2a in the Czech Republic during the seventh century (31) and in a German sample of a central European Neolithic culture (13), whereas this haplogroup is very rare in these places nowadays (32).…”

The genetic structure of the Slovak population revealed by Y-chromosome polymorphisms

“…Distribution of the R1a haplogroup in Europe has a frequency peak among Finno-Ugric and Slavic speakers (Pericic et al, 2005). A high frequency of R1a haplogroup (approximately 40%) was determined in the Czech Republic with which Slovakia had formed a common state until 1993 (Semino et al, 2000;Luca et al, 2007). Three major episodes of gene flow of R1a lineages in Europe have been described: early post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) recolonizations expanding from the refugium in Ukraine; migrations from the northern Pontic steppe between 3000 and 1000 BC; and possibly massive Slavic migration from the 5th to 7th centuries AD (Pericic et al, 2005).…”