Interactions between gene pools of russian and finnish-speaking populations from Tver region: analysis of 4 million SNP markers

This study explored the gene pools of Russian and Karelian populations of Tver region. Forty-one samples representing Tver Karels (n = 11) and Russians residing in the Western, Central and Eastern districts of Tver region (n = 30) were genotyped using a genome-wide panel of 4,559,465 SNPs. In order to investigate the phenomenon of genetic admixture between Slavic and Finnish-speaking populations, the obtained results were compared to the data on the Russian populations inhabiting the neighboring territories, Karels from Karelia and other North Eastern Europeans. Studying the gene pools of Russian populations with a genome-wide SNP panel is essential for cataloging their genetic diversity and identifying the distinct features of regional gene pools; in addition, it provides valuable data for practical pharmacogenomics and forensics. Using the principal component analysis, the ADMIXTURE method and D- and f3-statistics, we demonstrated that the gene pool of Tver Karels is closest to the gene pool of Karelian Karels, despite a long (300 to 500 years) history of living among the larger Russian population and the twentyfold population decline during the 20th century. At the same time, the gene pool of Tver Karels exhibits more pronounced similarity to the gene pool of the studied Russian populations than does any other Karelian population. The genetic admixture between Tver Russians and Tver Karels occurred due to a more intense gene flow from Russians to Karels whereas the gene flow from Karels to Russians was much weaker: Tver Russians turned out to be as genetically different from Karels as Pskov Russians. The genetic similarity of Tver Karels to Karelian Karels assessed with the autosomal SNP panel exhibits a slight shift towards the Russian gene pool and is consistent with the previously published analysis of Y-chromosome lineages in these populations that detected no admixture between Tver Karels and Russians.</jats:p

Cartographic atlas of frequency variation for 45 pharmacogenetic markers in populations of Russia and its neighbor states

The lack of information about the frequency of pharmacogenetic markers in Russia impedes the adoption of personalized treatment algorithms originally developed for West European populations. The aim of this paper was to study the distribution of some clinically significant pharmacogenetic markers across Russia. A total of 45 pharmacogenetic markers were selected from a few population genetic datasets, including ADME, drug target and hemostasis-controlling genes. The total number of donors genotyped for these markers was 2,197. The frequencies of these markers were determined for 50 different populations, comprised of 137 ethnic and subethnic groups. A comprehensive pharmacogenetic atlas was created, i.e. a systematic collection of gene geographic maps of frequency variation for 45 pharmacogenetic DNA markers in Russia and its neighbor states. The maps revealed 3 patterns of geographic variation. Clinal variation (a gradient change in frequency along the East-West axis) is observed in the pharmacogenetic markers that follow the main pattern of variation for North Eurasia (13% of the maps). Uniform distribution singles out a group of markers that occur at average frequency in most Russian regions (27% of the maps). Focal variation is observed in the markers that are specific to a certain group of populations and are absent in other regions (60% of the maps). The atlas reveals that the average frequency of the marker and its frequency in individual populations do not indicate the type of its distribution in Russia: a gene geographic map is needed to uncover the pattern of its variation.</jats:p

The accuracy of predicting eye and hair pigmentation based on genetic markers in Russian populations

Prediction of eye and hair color from DNA is being increasingly employed in forensics and the studies of ancient populations. HIrisPlex-S is a prediction tool trained on the Dutch dataset and verified using a few other European populations. The accuracy of its predictions for other regions of the world has not been studied yet. Russian populations pose a special interest because, unlike the majority of world populations, their representatives can have not only dark but also light color eyes and hair. The aim of this work was to evaluate the accuracy of eye and hair color prediction in Russian populations. We recruited 144 representatives of indigenous peoples of Russia (Avar, Aleut, Buryat, Itelmen, Karelian, Koryak, Mari, Nanai, Russian, Rutulian, Chuvash, Chukchi, Evenk, and Even populations). All study participants were photographed. Eye and hair colors were identified from the anthropological images by anthropologists. The SNP markers included in the HIrisPlex system were genotyped. Phenotypes were predicted from the obtained genotypes and subsequently compared to the actual phenotypes. Quality metrics were calculated for HIrisPlex prediction accuracy in the populations of European Russia and Siberia. On the whole, HIrisPlex prediction accuracy was satisfactory, although a bit lower than in Western European datasets. Further research could focus on identifying additional markers to improve the accuracy of predictions in Russian populations.</jats:p

Disuniting uniformity: A pied cladistic canvas of mtDNA haplogroup H in Eurasia

It has been often stated that the overall pattern of human maternal lineages in Europe is largely uniform. Yet this uniformity may also result from an insufficient depth and width of the phylogenetic analysis, in particular of the predominant western Eurasian haplogroup (Hg) H that comprises nearly a half of the European mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) pool. Making use of the coding sequence information from 267 mtDNA Hg H sequences, we have analyzed 830 mtDNA genomes, from 11 European, Near and Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Altaian populations. In addition to the seven previously specified subhaplogroups, we define fifteen novel subclades of Hg H present in the extant human populations of western Eurasia. The refinement of the phylogenetic resolution has allowed us to resolve a large number of homoplasies in phylogenetic trees of Hg H based on the first hypervariable segment (HVS-I) of mtDNA. As many as 50 out of 125 polymorphic positions in HVS-I were found to be mutated in more than one subcluster of Hg H. The phylogeographic analysis revealed that sub-Hgs H1*, H1b, H1f, H2a, H3, H6a, H6b, and H8 demonstrate distinct phylogeographic patterns. The monophyletic subhaplogroups of Hg H provide means for further progress in the understanding of the (pre)historic movements of women in Eurasia and for the understanding of the present-day genetic diversity of western Eurasians in general