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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.

The area of what is now the Ukraine has been the arena of large-scale demographic processes that may have left their traces in the contemporary gene pool of Ukrainians. In this study, we present new mitochondrial DNA data for 607 Ukrainians (hypervariable segment I sequences and coding region polymorphisms). To study the maternal affinities of Ukrainians at the level of separate mitochondrial haplotypes, we apply an original technique, the haplotype co-occurrence analysis. About 20% of the Ukrainian maternal gene pool is represented by lineages highly specific to Ukrainians, but is scarcely found in other populations. About 9% of Ukrainian mtDNA lineages are typical for peoples of the Volga region. We also identified minor gene pool strata (1.6-3.3%), each of which is common in Lithuanians, Estonians, Saami, Nenets, Cornish, and the populations of the North Caucasus., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

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.

When studying the marriage structure of the Kurskaya oblast population in 1987-1990, a positive marriage assortativeness with respect to ethnicity was found (K = 0.244). The Russian population exhibited panmixia; in the Ukrainian population, negative marriage assortativeness and panmixia prevailed; other ethnic groups were characterized by more or less pronounced positive marriage assortativeness. The ethnic compositions of raion (district) populations were determined by their geographic location and history. The parameter of marriage assortativeness with respect to age was r = 0.911; this value in the reproductive part of the population was r = 0.748. The age of contracting marriage in the raion populations depended on the extent of their urbanization.

Analysis of marital structure revealed that 82% of men and 77% of women that contracted marriages in the Kurskaya oblast (administrative region) in 1987-1990 were born in this region. The average coefficient of demographic migration in the Kurskaya oblast was m = 0.345. The majority of migrants to the Kurskaya oblast were from neighboring areas: Central and Central Chernozem Zones of Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. Marriage assortativeness with respect to the birthplaces of the spouses was K = 0.090. Migration activity increased with urbanization of the population. Migration structure of local populations was determined by mode, level, and direction of interaction between the processes underlying it.