Y-Chromosome Analysis in Individuals Bearing the Basarab Name of the First Dynasty of Wallachian Kings

Abstract

Vlad III The Impaler, also known as Dracula, descended from the dynasty of Basarab, the first rulers of independent Wallachia, in present Romania. Whether this dynasty is of Cuman (an admixed Turkic people that reached Wallachia from the East in the 11th century) or of local Romanian (Vlach) origin is debated among historians. Earlier studies have demonstrated the value of investigating the Y chromosome of men bearing a historical name, in order to identify their genetic origin. We sampled 29 Romanian men carrying the surname Basarab, in addition to four Romanian populations (from counties Dolj, N = 38; Mehedinti, N = 11; Cluj, N = 50; and Brasov, N = 50), and compared the data with the surrounding populations. We typed 131 SNPs and 19 STRs in the non-recombinant part of the Y-chromosome in all the individuals. We computed a PCA to situate the Basarab individuals in the context of Romania and its neighboring populations. Different Y-chromosome haplogroups were found within the individuals bearing the Basarab name. All haplogroups are common in Romania and other Central and Eastern European populations. In a PCA, the Basarab group clusters within other Romanian populations. We found several clusters of Basarab individuals having a common ancestor within the period of the last 600 years. The diversity of haplogroups found shows that not all individuals carrying the surname Basarab can be direct biological descendants of the Basarab dynasty. The absence of Eastern Asian lineages in the Basarab men can be interpreted as a lack of evidence for a Cuman origin of the Basarab dynasty, although it cannot be positively ruled out. It can be therefore concluded that the Basarab dynasty was successful in spreading its name beyond the spread of its genes.

Origins, admixture and founder lineages in European Roma

“…Their genotyping was extended for both Y-chromosome SNPs and STRs, and the mtDNA whole control region. Bulgarian host samples were those in Martinez-Cruz et al 31 Romanian Roma were Vlax Romani speakers sampled in several villages (Garla Mare, Lipovu, Goicea, Barca, and Sadova). Romanian general population was also sampled in the southwest region of the country.…”

“…Ukrainian Romungro Roma were collected in three localities in the Zakarpattya region (Serednye, Antonivka, and Hudolovo) and Ukrainian hosts were sampled around Lviv. 31 Spanish Roma samples were collected in Barcelona 7 and Madrid, and they were Spanish speakers. The Spanish host population was obtained from the Spanish National DNA Bank.…”

Y-chromosome diversity in Catalan surname samples: insights into surname origin and frequency

“…We determined descent clusters, ie, groups of men likely to have a common ancestor that was more recent than the age when surnames were established following with a modified version of the heuristic in Martínez-González et al 19 (for further details on determining descent clusters and their ages, see Supplementary Text S1). Several external references were used for comparison as necessary: Catalans and Italians (only for STRs), 19 Gascons, 20 Bavarians, 21 Moroccans, 22 Swedes (www.yhrd.org), and Sephardic Jews. 23 Local haplogroup frequencies were estimated from our data by using descent clusters as sampling units, thus avoiding related individuals.…”

Multiplex genotyping assays for fine‐resolution subtyping of the major human Y‐chromosome haplogroups E, G, I, J, and R in anthropological, genealogical, and forensic investigations

“…On relatively recent timescales, Y‐SNPs can be used to verify paternal genealogies with the potential to uncover past events of nonpaternity leading to discordances between a documented line of descent and biological relatedness. Similarly, Y‐SNPs can be employed to study the dynamics of patrilineally inherited surnames with respect to biological lines of descent . Here, Y‐SNP data can reveal whether a given surname has a monophyletic (single founder) or a polyphyletic (multiple founders) origin.…”