Y-chromosome analysis recapitulates key events of Mediterranean populations
B. Navarro-López,
M. .Baeta,
O. Moreno-López,
T. Kleinbielen,
C. Raffone,
E. Granizo-Rodríguez,
J.F. Ferragut,
O. Alvarez-Gila,
A. Barbaro,
A. Picornell,
M.M. de Pancorbo E
Affiliations
B. Navarro-López
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Bioaraba Health Research Institute, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
M. .Baeta
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Bioaraba Health Research Institute, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
O. Moreno-López
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
T. Kleinbielen
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
C. Raffone
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Bioaraba Health Research Institute, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
E. Granizo-Rodríguez
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
J.F. Ferragut
Departament de Biologia, Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut (IUNICS) i Laboratori de Genètica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain
O. Alvarez-Gila
Department of Medieval, Early Modern and American History, Faculty of Letters, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
A. Barbaro
Forensic Genetics Section, Studio Indagini Mediche e Forensi (SIMEF), Reggio Calabria, Italy
A. Picornell
Departament de Biologia, Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut (IUNICS) i Laboratori de Genètica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain; Corresponding author.
M.M. de Pancorbo E
BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Bioaraba Health Research Institute, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Corresponding author.BIOMICs Research Group, Department of Z. and Cell Biology A., Faculty of Pharmacy, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
The remarkable geographical situation of the Mediterranean region, located between Europe, Africa, and Asia, with numerous migratory routes, has made this area a crucible of cultures. Studying the Y-chromosome variability is a very performant tool to explore the genetic ancestry and evaluate scenarios that may explain the current Mediterranean gene pool. Here, six Mediterranean populations, including three Balearic Islands (Ibiza, Majorca, and Minorca) and three Southern Italian regions (Catanzaro, Cosenza, and Reggio di Calabria) were typed using 23 Y-STR loci and up to 39 Y-SNPs and compared to geographically targeted key reference populations to explore their genetic relationship and provide an overview of Y-chromosome variation across the Mediterranean basin. Pairwise RST genetic distances calculated with STRs markers and Y-haplogroups mirror the West to East geographic distribution of European and Asian Mediterranean populations, highlighting the North-South division of Italy, with a higher Eastern Mediterranean component in Southern Italian populations. In contrast, the African populations from the Southern coast of the Mediterranean clustered separately. Overall, these results support the notion that migrations from Magna Graecia or the Byzantine Empire, which followed similar Neolithic and post-Neolithic routes into Southern Italy, may have contributed to maintaining and/or reinforcing the Eastern Mediterranean genetic component in Southern Italian populations.
