May 12, 2010

mtDNA of Tatars from Volga-Ural region (Malyarchuk et al. 2010)

Wikipedia article on Volga Tatars. Some pictures of Kazan Tatars, which look just about what you would expect for 16% eastern Asian mtDNA, i.e., primarily Caucasoid but with visible traces of Mongoloid admixture

Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msq065

Mitogenomic diversity in Tatars from the Volga-Ural region of Russia

B. Malyarchuk et al.

To investigate diversity of mitochondrial gene pool of Tatars inhabiting the territory of the middle Volga River basin, 197 individuals from two populations representing Kazan Tatars and Mishars were subjected for analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region variation. In addition, 73 mitochondrial genomes of individuals from Mishar population were sequenced completely. It was found that mitochondrial gene pool of the Volga Tatars consists of two parts, but western Eurasian component prevails considerably (84% on average) over eastern Asian one (16%). Eastern Asian mtDNAs detected in Tatars belonged to a heterogeneous set of haplogroups (A, C, D, G, M7, M10, N9a, Y, Z), although only haplogroups A and D were revealed simultaneously in both populations. Complete mtDNA variation study revealed that the age of western Eurasian haplogroups (such as U4, HV0a and H) is less than 18,000 years, thus suggesting re-expansion of Eastern Europeans soon after the Last Glacial Maximum.

Link

4 comments:

J said...

Could this be similar to Colombia, where the population is mostly Amerindian on the female said and mostly Spanish on the male side? For centuries, Tatars raided Eastern Europe for women.

Ebizur said...

Actually, the Y-DNA of nearly all present-day Tatars belongs to typically Caucasoid haplogroups. If anything, the Kazan Tatars seem to be differentiated from their Slavic and Finno-Ugric neighbors by exhibiting a greater affinity in their Y-DNA with Caucasian or Near Eastern populations:

Kazan Tatar (Wells et al. 2001)
1/38 = 2.6% E-M96
5/38 = 13.2% F-M89(xH1-M52, I-M170, J2-M172, K-M9)
7/38 = 18.4% I-M170
4/38 = 10.5% J2-M172
3/38 = 7.9% K-M9(xL-M20, N1c-M46, O-M175, P-M45)
1/38 = 2.6% L-M20
5/38 = 13.2% N1c-M46
2/38 = 5.3% P-M45(xQ1a1-M120, Q1a3a-M3, R1-M173, R2-M124)
1/38 = 2.6% R1-M173(xR1a1a-M17)
9/38 = 23.7% R1a1a-M17(xR1a1a3-M87)

Tatar/Urumqi area, NE Xinjiang (Shou et al. 2010)
11/33 = 33.3% I-M170
2/33 = 6.1% O3a3c-M134
20/33 = 60.6% R1a1a-M17

Note the frequency of F-M89(xH1-M52, I-M170, J2-M172, K-M9), which is probably G-M201 and/or J1-M267, and J2-M172 in the Kazan Tatar sample of Wells et al. 2001. Furthermore, one of the Kazan Tatars in this sample has been placed in haplogroup L-M20, which also suggests some degree of affinity with populations of the Caucasus, the Near East, and southern Central Asia.

dave in boca said...

Off topic, but i enjoyed your comment on Mediaite on the article by Caleb Howe about the egregious d-bag Roger E.

Also off-topic, but Kazan-native Lenin or Vladimir Ulyanov was a one-quarter Tatar, one-quarter Jew, one-quarter Volga German, and one-quarter Russian.

HBD gone terribly wrong, I guess. If Arthur Koestler was correct about the Turkic Khazars being the 13th tribe, Ulyanov would be half-Turkic.

Dienekes said...

Off topic, but i enjoyed your comment on Mediaite on the article by Caleb Howe about the egregious d-bag Roger E.

I have no idea what either Mediaite or Roger E. are.