Dissecting the molecular architecture and origin of Bayash Romani patrilineages: Genetic influences from South‐Asia and the Balkans

Abstract

The Bayash are a branch of Romanian speaking Roma living dispersedly in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. To better understand the molecular architecture and origin of the Croatian Bayash paternal gene pool, 151 Bayash Y chromosomes were analyzed for 16 SNPs and 17 STRs and compared with European Romani and non-Romani majority populations from Europe, Turkey, and South Asia. Two main layers of Bayash paternal gene pool were identified: ancestral (Indian) and recent (European). The reduced diversity and expansion signals of H1a patrilineages imply descent from closely related paternal ancestors who could have settled in the Indian subcontinent, possibly as early as between the eighth and tenth centuries AD. The recent layer of the Bayash paternal pool is dominated by a specific subset of E1b1b1a lineages that are not found in the Balkan majority populations. At least two private mutational events occurred in the Bayash during their migrations from the southern Balkans toward Romania. Additional admixture, evident in the low frequencies of typical European haplogroups, J2, R1a, I1, R1b1b2, G, and I2a, took place primarily during the early Bayash settlement in the Balkans and the Romani bondage in Romania. Our results indicate two phenomena in the Bayash and analyzed Roma: a significant preservation of ancestral H1a haplotypes as a result of considerable, but variable level of endogamy and isolation and differential distribution of less frequent, but typical European lineages due to different patterns of the early demographic history in Europe marked by differential admixture and genetic drift.

Carrier Rates of Four Single-Gene Disorders in Croatian Bayash Roma

“…Recent studies of the mitochondrial DNA from various Roma groups show clear separation of the Vlax Roma from the Balkan and other Roma populations that reached Europe as part of the first migration wave (Mendizabal et al, 2011;Peričić Salihović et al, 2011). Similar results were shown by studies of autosomal (Gusmã o et al, 2008) and Y STR loci (Martinović Klarić et al, 2009). Morar et al (2004) indicated that the migration patterns are reflected in mutation distribution and different carrier rates of rare monogenic disorders in various Roma groups.…”

“…Namely, it was already noted in the Y chromosome and mtDNA investigations that the MeCimurje group is more homogenous, while the Baranja group is more diverse. They also comprised different Y and mtDNA haplotypes; moreover, the Baranja population has specific mtDNA haplogroups characteristic for India, which are not found in the MeCimurje population (Martinović Klarić et al, 2009;Peričić Salihović et al, 2011), suggesting possible differentiation before arrival in Croatia. In addition to the genetic evidence, linguistic research has previously shown distinct dialectal differences between the two groups-the Baranja group speaks mostly the Muntean dialect of the Romanian language, while the MeCimurje group uses Ardelean.…”

Divergent patrilineal signals in three Roma populations

“…Specifically, the H1a sub-clade, defined by the M82 mutation, predominates over all other Y-lineages in the Kosovo (60%) and Belgrade (55%) collections and is detected at levels comparable to those exhibited by other Roma populations residing in the Balkan Peninsula, including the Macedonian Roma (59.6%) (Peričić et al, 2005) and the Bayash Roma from Croatia (50.3%) (Klarić et al, 2009).…”

“…Along with haplogroup H, which accounts for almost 50% of their male genetic component, Romanis also possess G-M201, I-M258, J-M304, R-M207 and E-M35 Ychromosomes, reflecting genetic influences from the surrounding European populations (Gresham et al, 2001;Kalaydjieva et al, 2001Kalaydjieva et al, , 2005Gusmã o et al, 2008;Klarić et al, 2009). Haplogroup H and its sub-clades, H1 and H2, are almost exclusive to the Indian subcontinent (26.4% of all Y-chromosomes) (Sengupta et al, 2006) including Sri Lanka (10.2%) and Pakistan (2.5%) (Firasat et al, 2007).…”

Analysis of Y-chromosome Diversity in Lingayat and Vokkaliga Populations of Southern India

“…Besides its widespread distributions in South Asian populations, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal (Wells et al, 2001;Kivisild et al, 2003;Sahoo et al, 2006;Sengupta et al, 2006;Thanseem et al, 2006;Gayden et al, 2007), haplogroup H-M69 is also present at high frequency among Romani groups residing in Europe (Gresham et al, 2001;Pericic et al, 2005;Gusmao et al, 2008;Klaric et al, 2009;Regueiro et al, 2011). Therefore, it is not surprising that the Kosovo Roma from Serbia maps with Indian populations in the CA plot ( Figure 2) and ML (Figure 3) phylogeny.…”