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Introduction. The article presents the results of paleogenetic studies of medieval human remains of three people found in a closed archaeological complex (building 32) revealed during the excavations in 2007 in the Taynitsky Garden of the Moscow Kremlin (supervisor of excavations: N.A. Makarov). Previous studies on the dating of the complex links it to the devastation of Moscow by the troops of Tokhtamysh Khan in August 1382. The archaeological layer was formed at a time as a result of a fire and contained the remains of two adults and a 3-4 year old child who remained unburied. The aim of this work was the genetic study of the ancient DNA of the remains of people who died in the 14th century, clarification of their gender, determination of kinship and presumptive origin. Material and methods. For genetic examination, teeth were selected (permanent for adults, primary for a child). The laboratory research algorithm included a set of measures to protect archaeological DNA from contamination, sample preparation and extraction of DNA from dental remains, analysis of STR markers of the Y chromosome in males, analysis of ALU markers of autosomal chromosomes, targeted NGS sequencing of hyper-variable segments of mitochondrial DNA. Results and conclusion. Using the methods of molecular genetic research, it was possible to confirm that a man, a young woman and a child (boy) died in the fire. Based on the analysis of autosomal markers, with a high degree of probability (99.9%), a close biological relationship between a woman and a child (mother-son) was revealed. The man was not a relative of either the woman or the child. The mtDNA haplogroups and STR markers of the male specific Y chromosome identified in all three individuals are generally characteristic of the Slavic population of modern Europe. The mt haplogroup J1c, found in mother and child, is now most characteristic of the inhabitants of Europe. The man has a mitochondrial haplogroup K2, which is found mainly in Northwestern Europe.

Western Kazakhstan is populated by three clans totaling 2 million people. Since the clans are patrilineal, the Y-chromosome is the most informative genetic system for tracing their origin. We genotyped 40 Y-SNP and 17 Y-STR markers in 330 Western Kazakhs. High phylogenetic resolution within haplogroup C2a1a2-M48 was achieved by using additional SNPs. Three lines of evidence indicate that the Alimuly and Baiuly clans (but not the Zhetiru clan) have a common founder placed 700 ± 200 years back by the STR data and 500 ± 200 years back by the sequencing data. This supports traditional genealogy claims about the descent of these clans from Emir Alau, who lived 650 years ago and whose lineage might be carried by two-thirds of Western Kazakhs. There is accumulation of specific haplogroups in the subclans representing other lineages, confirming that the clan structure corresponds with the paternal genetic structure of the steppe population.

Western Kazakhstan is populated by three clans totaling 2 million people. Since the clans are patrilineal, the Y-chromosome is the most informative genetic system for tracing their origin. We genotyped 40 Y-SNP and 17 Y-STR markers in 330 Western Kazakhs. High phylogenetic resolution within haplogroup C2a1a2-M48 was achieved by using additional SNPs. Three lines of evidence indicate that the Alimuly and Baiuly clans (but not the Zhetiru clan) have a common founder placed 700 ± 200 years back by the STR data and 500 ± 200 years back by the sequencing data. This supports traditional genealogy claims about the descent of these clans from Emir Alau, who lived 650 years ago and whose lineage might be carried by two-thirds of Western Kazakhs. There is accumulation of specific haplogroups in the subclans representing other lineages, confirming that the clan structure corresponds with the paternal genetic structure of the steppe population.

The demographic parameters and Y-chromosomal variation in the Ulchi population, an indigenous ethnic group of Khabarovsk krai, were studied. The demographic portrait was compiled using the data from the books of rural household accounting (7521 records, including 1562 on Ulchi). The structure of the gene pool was characterized for 45 SNP markers of the Y chromosome: 52 DNA samples were analyzed. The total number of Ulchi in the period between the censuses of 1926–2002 showed stable growth (723–2913 individuals) and slightly decreased by 2010 (2765 individuals). The study revealed an imbalance in the sex ratio (SR = 1 : 1.7) and the age structure close to the stationary type and providing a simple type of reproduction of the Ulchi. Analysis of the marital structure demonstrated a high rate of assimilation of the Ulchi by the Russian-speaking population dominant in all places of their compact settlement. Analysis for the SNP markers of the Y chromosomes (23 haplogroups were found) revealed a strong similarity of the Ulchi to the populations of the Amur River region and Okhotsk coast and a relative proximity to the Central Asian populations as given by haplogroup C. Genotyping of five new SNP markers within haplogroup C and 17 STR markers provided a correct phylogenetic analysis of haplogroup C in the Ulchi and neighboring peoples. It did not confirm the powerful gene drift in the Ulchi, which one might expect owing to their low effective size, likely because the Ulchi population was subdivided and thus managed to retain its diversity. However, this analysis revealed traces of intense interaction of the Ulchi with the peoples of the Far East and Central Asia over the past one to three thousand years. Therefore, the results of a recent study of the similarity of the ancient genomes of Primorye with the Ulchi indicate not the uniqueness of the Ulchi but the fact that this ancient gene pool was preserved in a vast milieu of populations of the Far East interlaced with gene flows both with each other and with populations of Central Asia.

Y-chromosomal variation in West Asian populations has so far been studied in less detail than in the neighboring Europe. Here, we analyzed 598 Y-chromosomes from two West Asian subregions-Transcaucasia and the Armenian plateau-using 40 Y-SNPs and 17 Y-STRs and combined them with previously published data from the region. The West Asian populations fell into two clusters: upland populations from the Anatolian, Armenian and Iranian plateaus, and lowland populations from the Levant, Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula. This geographic subdivision corresponds with the linguistic difference between Indo-European and Turkic speakers, on the one hand, and Semitic speakers, on the other. This subdivision could be traced back to the Neolithic epoch, when upland populations from the Anatolian and Iranian plateaus carried similar haplogroup spectra but did not overlap with lowland populations from the Levant. We also found that the initial gene pool of the Armenian motherland population has been well preserved in most groups of the Armenian Diaspora. In view of the contribution of West Asians to the autosomal gene pool of the steppe Yamnaya archaeological culture, we sequenced a large portion of the Y-chromosome in haplogroup R1b samples from present-day East European steppe populations. The ancient Yamnaya samples are located on the "eastern" R-GG400 branch of haplogroup R1b-L23, showing that the paternal descendants of the Yamnaya still live in the Pontic steppe and that the ancient Yamnaya population was not an important source of paternal lineages in present-day West Europeans.