A glimpse at the intricate mosaic of ethnicities from Mesopotamia: Paternal lineages of the Northern Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Turkmens and Yazidis

Abstract

Widely considered as one of the cradles of human civilization, Mesopotamia is largely situated in the Republic of Iraq, which is also the birthplace of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations. These lands were subsequently ruled by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mongolians, Ottomans and finally British prior to the independence. As a direct consequence of this rich history, the contemporary Iraqi population comprises a true mosaic of different ethnicities, which includes Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, and Yazidis among others. As such, the genetics of the contemporary Iraqi populations are of anthropological and forensic interest. In an effort to contribute to a better understanding of the genetic basis of this ethnic diversity, a total of 500 samples were collected from Northern Iraqi volunteers belonging to five major ethnic groups, namely: Arabs (n = 102), Kurds (n = 104), Turkmens (n = 102), Yazidis (n = 106) and Syriacs (n = 86). 17-loci Y-STR analyses were carried out using the AmpFlSTR Yfiler system, and subsequently in silico haplogroup assignments were made to gain insights from a molecular anthropology perspective. Systematic comparisons of the paternal lineages of these five Northern Iraqi ethnic groups, not only among themselves but also in the context of the larger genetic landscape of the Near East and beyond, were then made through the use of two different genetic distance metric measures and the associated data visualization methods. Taken together, results from the current study suggested the presence of intricate Y-chromosomal lineage patterns among the five ethic groups analyzed, wherein both interconnectivity and independent microvariation were observed in parallel, albeit in a differential manner. Notably, the novel Y-STR data on Turkmens, Syriacs and Yazidis from Northern Iraq constitute the first of its kind in the literature. Data presented herein is expected to contribute to further population and forensic investigations in Northern Iraq in particular and the Near East in general.

Genetic relationships of European, Mediterranean, and SW Asian populations using a panel of 55 AISNPs

“…Typing method: ThermoFisher Precision ID Ancestry panel a Indicates population samples and SNP data reported for first time in this study b Indicates population samples reported initially in a previous publication as cited here in the data source column of this table. SNP data in this study was supplied by co-authors; see footnote #4 c Indicates SNP data and population samples employed in this study that derive from publications as cited here in data source column of this table d Indicates population samples initially reported in a previous publication [13] for Y-chromosome data only. The autosomal SNP data in this study has not been reported previously…”

“…d Indicates population samples initially reported in a previous publication [13] for Y-chromosome data only. The autosomal SNP data in this study has not been reported previously…”

“…Supplementary Table S2 details the geographical distribution for the self-reported birthplaces of the individuals from Northern Iraq, belonging to seven different ethnic groups, all of which were residents in Northern Iraq at the time of sample collection. In a previous study [13] males from five of the seven N. Iraq groups (Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Turkmen, Yazidis) were typed for 17 STRP loci on the Y-chromosome and in silico haplogroup assignments were made. The patrilineal relationships of these groups are discussed there in light of these Y-haplogroup findings and comparisons are also made to what is known from the literature about other ethnic groups in the broader geographic region.…”

“…The patrilineal relationships of these groups are discussed there in light of these Y-haplogroup findings and comparisons are also made to what is known from the literature about other ethnic groups in the broader geographic region. The introductory section in Dogan et al [13]. also provides additional historical and demographic information about the ethnic groups of ancient Mesopotamia and modern Iraq.…”

A glance of genetic relations in the Balkan populations utilizing network analysis based on in silico assigned Y-DNA haplogroups

“…Y chromosomal haplogroups can be assigned from Y-STR haplotypes using haplogroup predictors, which are very useful for analysing previous published Y-STR datasets (Dogan et al 2016;Dogan et al 2017;Heraclides et al 2017;Gurkan et al 2017) as well as validation purposes of haplogroup assignments based on Y SNP data (Petrejčíková et al 2014 andEmmerova et al 2017). The four haplogroup predictors that are in focus in this study are: Whit Athey haplogroup predictor (Athey 2006), Nevgen haplogroup predictor (Ćetković -Gentula and Nevski 2015), Vadim Urasin's…”