Maternal and paternal lineages in Albania and the genetic structure of Indo-European populations

Eur J Hum Genet. 2000 Jul;8(7):480-6. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200443.

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA HV1 sequences and Y chromosome haplotypes (DYS19 STR and YAP) were characterised in an Albanian sample and compared with those of several other Indo-European populations from the European continent. No significant difference was observed between Albanians and most other Europeans, despite the fact that Albanians are clearly different from all other Indo-Europeans linguistically. We observe a general lack of genetic structure among Indo-European populations for both maternal and paternal polymorphisms, as well as low levels of correlation between linguistics and genetics, even though slightly more significant for the Y chromosome than for mtDNA. Altogether, our results show that the linguistic structure of continental Indo-European populations is not reflected in the variability of the mitochondrial and Y chromosome markers. This discrepancy could be due to very recent differentiation of Indo-European populations in Europe and/or substantial amounts of gene flow among these populations.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Albania / epidemiology
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
  • Ethnicity / classification
  • Ethnicity / genetics*
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Gene Frequency
  • Genetic Markers
  • Genetics, Population*
  • Genomic Imprinting / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Language*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • White People / genetics*
  • Y Chromosome / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial
  • Genetic Markers