Search

The Slavic branch of the Balto-Slavic sub-family of Indo-European languages underwent rapid divergence as a result of the spatial expansion of its speakers from Central-East Europe, in early medieval times. This expansion-mainly to East Europe and the northern Balkans-resulted in the incorporation of genetic components from numerous autochthonous populations into the Slavic gene pools. Here, we characterize genetic variation in all extant ethnic groups speaking Balto-Slavic languages by analyzing mitochondrial DNA (n = 6,876), Y-chromosomes (n = 6,079) and genome-wide SNP profiles (n = 296), within the context of other European populations. We also reassess the phylogeny of Slavic languages within the Balto-Slavic branch of Indo-European. We find that genetic distances among Balto-Slavic populations, based on autosomal and Y-chromosomal loci, show a high correlation (0.9) both with each other and with geography, but a slightly lower correlation (0.7) with mitochondrial DNA and linguistic affiliation. The data suggest that genetic diversity of the present-day Slavs was predominantly shaped in situ, and we detect two different substrata: 'central-east European' for West and East Slavs, and 'south-east European' for South Slavs. A pattern of distribution of segments identical by descent between groups of East-West and South Slavs suggests shared ancestry or a modest gene flow between those two groups, which might derive from the historic spread of Slavic people.

The results of the study of Y-chromosomal polymorphisms of Russian and Ukrainian population are presented for Slobozhanshina--contemporary border region, former "Wild Field" boundary, which was inhabited in XVII-XVIII centuries by both the Russians from the north and Ukrainians from the west. In general, Ukrainian and Russian populations of Slobozhanshchina genetically are very close, their set and frequency range of Y-chromosome haplogroups are typical for the Eastern Europe. But a detailed analysis of highly informative Y-chromosome markers showed that after 3,5 centuries of coexistence on the same historical territory, the both nations retain the ethnic specificity of their gene pools: Ukrainian populations are similar to the rest of Ukraine, and Russian populations are similar to the south of the European part of Russia. The genetic differences may be due to the spatial characteristics of marriage migration and the predominant ethnic environment.

Data on the frequencies of all (50 412) surnames in a total population of 849 399 people have been treated by various methods of multivariate statistics (cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis) to show that 22 district populations of the Central Chernozem region of Russia form a definite, ordered system of population groups. All raions (administrative districts) of Belgorod oblast (administrative region) have been grouped into four clusters corresponding to the actual geographic locations of the populations. Districts of the eastern cluster are characterized by very specific spectrum and frequencies of surnames; districts of the western cluster differ in a high proportion of Ukrainian surnames.

The model of the Belgorod oblast population has been used to demonstrate different effects of administrative reforms on microevolution in human populations. For the populations that formerly belonged to Kursk oblast, changes in the regional administrative structure (after which some of them remained in Kursk oblast and others were included into Belgorod oblast) have lead to an increase in the genetic distances between them. However, other populations (formerly belonging to Voronezh oblast) have become genetically closer to one another, although these populations now belong to different administrative regions (Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts).

The frequencies of 33 alleles of 12 loci of immunological and biochemical gene markers (ABO, RH, HP, GC, TF, PI, C'3, ACP1, GLO1, PGM1, ESD, and 6-PGD) have been estimated in the indigenous Russian and Ukrainian populations of Belgorod oblast. Differences of the Belgorod population from other populations of Russia with respect to the genetic structure have been determined. It has been found that the frequency distributions of all alleles studied in the Belgorod population are similar to those typical of the genetic structure of Caucasoid populations.

The characteristics of the gene pools of indigenous populations of Ukraine and Belarus have been studied using 28 alleles of 10 loci of biochemical gene markers (HP, GC, TF, PI, C'3, ACP1, GLO1, PGM1, ESD, and 6-PGD). The gene pools of the Russian and Ukrainian indigenous populations of Belgorod oblast (Russia) and the indigenous populations of Ukraine and Belarus have been compared. Cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis of the obtained data have been used to determine the position of the Belgorod population gene pool in the Eastern Slavic gene pool system.

The frequencies and spectra of surnames have been analyzed in groups of raions (districts) of the Belgorod oblast (region) with different degrees of population subdivision. The "family name portraits" of districts with low (0.00003 less sign f* < 0.00022, f*(r) = 0.00015) and moderate (0.00023 < f*(r) < 0.00042, f*(r) = 0.00029) inbreeding levels are similar both to each other and to the "family name portrait" of the Belgorod oblast as a whole. Districts with high subdivision levels (0.00043 < f*(r) < 0.00125, f*(r) = 0.00072) had very distinctive surname spectra and the highest surname frequencies. Intense immigration to the Belgorod oblast significantly affects its population genetic structure, decreasing the population subdivision.

The gene pool of the entire population of all the 21 raions (districts) of the Belgorod oblast (region) has been studied using anthroponymic data. Considerable geographic variations of the number of surnames and the degree of population subdivision (0.00003 < f(r)* < 0.00125) in the 21 districts have been demonstrated. Districts with low population subdivision levels are mainly located in the central and southwestern raions of the Belgorod oblast, contain an urbanized area (city), and border on Ukraine (they are characterized by a considerable Ukrainian immigration). Urbanization significantly affects the population structure of the Belgorod oblast. In urbanized districts, rural populations lack the relationships between the population size, number of surnames, and population subdivision level (f(r)).