Izvorni znanstveni članak
Maternal Genetic Legacy of the Eastern Adriatic Island of Krk – an Interplay of Evolutionary Forces and Island’s Historical Events in Shaping the Genetic Structure of Contemporary Island Population
Dubravka Havaš Auguštin
Nina Jeran
Jelena Šarac
Tena Šarić
Ene Metspalu
Tuuli Reisberg
Anita Sujoldžić
Richard Villems
Pavao Rudan
Sažetak
This study presents genetic diversity and structure of contemporary Krk islanders revealed by high-resolution mitochondrial
DNA analysis on a sample of 132 unrelated autochthonous adults from seven different settlements and regions
of the island. Relatively high level of haplogroup and haplotype diversity in the overall island sample is an indicator
of numerous migrations and gene flows throughout the history. Expectedly, the results show the highest frequency of
haplogroup H (33.3%), yet this value is much lower compared to different Croatian and other European mainland populations.
An interesting finding refers to highly elevated frequencies of some haplogroups, otherwise rare in Croatia and
most of the Europe, such as I (11.3%) and W (7.6%) in Krk population, especially pronounced in some settlements. At the
level of settlements, many of the major European haplogroups were found to be absent from their mtDNA gene pools,
whereas several others show a pronounced deviation from an average. Overall, our results suggest a tangled interplay of
different evolutionary forces, such as founder effects and a few strong bottlenecks, presumably due to epidemics, which
have occurred in various periods of the island’s history. Cultural customs, such as frequent endogamy in some regions of
the island during past centuries, have additionally shaped its genetic structure into the observed present-day diversity
patterns.
Ključne riječi
Island of Krk; genetic isolate; mitochondrial DNA; founder effect; bottleneck; endogamy
Hrčak ID:
84764
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.7.2012.
Posjeta: 1.545 *