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. 2014 May 15:15:56.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2156-15-56.

The Carpathian range represents a weak genetic barrier in South-East Europe

Montserrat Hervella, Neskuts Izagirre, Santos Alonso, Mihai Ioana, Mihai G Netea, Concepción de-la-Rua  1
Affiliations

The Carpathian range represents a weak genetic barrier in South-East Europe

Montserrat Hervella et al. BMC Genet. .

Abstract

Background: In the present study we have assessed whether the Carpathian Mountains represent a genetic barrier in East Europe. Therefore, we have analyzed the mtDNA of 128 native individuals of Romania: 62 of them from the North of Romania, and 66 from South Romania.

Results: We have analyzed their mtDNA variability in the context of other European and Near Eastern populations through multivariate analyses. The results show that regarding the mtDNA haplogroup and haplotype distributions the Romanian groups living outside the Carpathian range (South Romania) displayed some degree of genetic differentiation compared to those living within the Carpahian range (North Romania).

Conclusion: The main differentiation between the mtDNA variability of the groups from North and South Romania can be attributed to the demographic movements from East to West (prehistoric or historic) that differently affected in these regions, suggesting that the Carpathian mountain range represents a weak genetic barrier in South-East Europe.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographical location of the two Romania populations analyzed in the present study. North Romania (Cluj-Napoca) and South Romania (Dolj and Mehedinti).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) (57% of total variance in two First Principal Components). a) Distribution of the populations based on the frequencies of the mitochondrial haplogroups of North and South of Romania (in red), Europe (in green) and Near East (in blue). b) Correlation of the mtDNA haplogroups with the main axes of the PCA.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) based on the F ST genetic distances, calculated according to the distribution of the mtDNA haplogroup frequencies of different populations: North and South of Romania (in red), Europe (in green) and Near East (in blue).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The first four genetic boundaries (lines: a, b, c and d) detected by BARRIER version 2.2 using genetic distance matrix based on the mtDNA haplogroup frequencies. The Romanian groups from the North and South (present study) have been considered together with the surrounding populations.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Median Joining Network of haplogroup J. Data encompass mtDNA HVS-I (nps 15999–16399). South Romanian sample in pink, North Romanian sample in black, Near East populations in green and North East Europe population in yellow.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Median Joining Network of haplogroup K. Data encompass mtDNA HVS-I (nps 15999–16399). South Romanian sample in pink, North Romanian sample in black, Near East populations in green and North East Europe population in yellow.
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