Georgian and Kurd mtDNA sequence analysis shows a lack of correlation between languages and female genetic lineages

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA sequences from Georgians and Kurds were analyzed in order to test the possible correlation between female lineages and languages in these two neighboring West Eurasian groups. Mitochondrial sequence pools in both populations are very similar despite their different linguistic and prehistoric backgrounds. Both populations present mtDNA lineages that clearly belong to the European gene pool, as shown by 1) similar nucleotide and sequence diversities; 2) a large number of sequences shared with the rest of European samples; 3) nonsignificant genetic distances; and 4) classification of the present lineages into the major European mtDNA haplogroups already described. The outlier position of the populations from the Caucasus according to classical genetic markers is not recognized in the present Georgian mtDNA sequence pool. This result suggests that the differentiation of mtDNA sequences in West Eurasia and the outlier features of Caucasian populations should be attributed to different processes. Moreover, the putative linguistic relationship between Caucasian groups and the Basques, another outlier population within Europe for classical genetic markers, is not detected by the analysis of mtDNA sequences.

Mitochondrial DNA characterisation of European isolates: The Maragatos from Spain

“…Furthermore, it has recently been demonstrated, using mtDNA sequences, that Basques do not present a closer relation to Georgians than to the rest of European populations. 32 Finally, the comparatively higher diversity of Andalusia that was previously detected in a small sample 2 is confirmed here. Due to its geographical localisation, Andalusia has been a permanently open door to human movements since the Palaeolithic and this seems to be the most probable cause of its genetic complexity.…”

Mitochondrial DNA variation and language replacements in the Caucasus

“…Published mtDNA HV1 sequences were also used from 50 Adygheians (Macaulay et al 1999) from the north-west Caucasus. Another sample of 45 Georgian HV1 sequences that recently became available (Comas et al 2000) does not di¡er in any respect from our Georgian sample (data not shown) and, hence, was not included in order to avoid weighting the results too heavily on one population.…”

“…Mitochondrial DNA HV1 sequences from 106 Basques Co ª rte-Real et al 1996), 101 Britons (Piercy et al 1993) Richards et al 1996), 96 Turks Comas et al 1996;Richards et al 1996), 45 Israeli Drusi (Macaulay et al 1999), 29 Kurds (Comas et al 2000) and 98 Indians (Mountain et al 1995) were used for some analyses for comparison with the Caucasus sequences. Other European and central Asian populations were also included in the preliminary analyses, but did not alter any conclusions based on the above populations only.…”

“…However, to date only limited information is available concerning mtDNA diversity in the Caucasus (Macaulay et al 1999;Comas et al 2000). We therefore undertook a comprehensive analysis of mtDNA diversity in nine populations.…”

High-throughput sequencing of complete human mtDNA genomes from the Caucasus and West Asia: high diversity and demographic inferences

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] These studies were mostly based on sequences of the first hypervariable segment of the noncoding mtDNA control region (HV1) and Y chromosome binary marker variation in various groups from this region. mtDNA studies reveal a high level of diversity, exceeding that within all of Europe and only slightly lower than West Asian mtDNA diversity, which might indicate an old age of human populations from this region.…”