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Traces of migration from India to Europe as written in the mitochondrial DNA of Bayash Roma

Bayash (Vlax Roma) are one of the founder Roma populations speaking archaic Romanian language and living dispersedly in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Different Vlax Roma groups are related through shared period of slavery in Romania during the 13th to 19th century. In order to understand in what way this legacy manifested on the genetic heritage of the Vlax Roma compared to other Roma groups, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA of 384 Croatian Vlax Roma from two geographic locations, in the context of 759 European Roma samples, members of different migration categories. Our results show that three haplogroups of different temporal and spatial characteristics, namely X2, U3 and M35, determine the mitochondrial diversity of researched Roma groups. X2 and U3 haplogroups clearly separate the Balkan and Vlax Roma from Roma populations that reached Europe as part of the first migration wave, indicating a possibility of their admixture to Roma populations before arrival to Europe. On the contrary, M35 haplogroup has so far been noted only in the Vlax Roma populations, implying that all Vlax Roma populations descend from one single founder population that might even reach back to the original ancestral Indian population. Founder effects followed by strict endogamy rules, as main factors forming the gene pool of Roma populations, can be traced from India to contemporary small, local communities, as it is the case of two Croatian Vlax Roma populations that show population differentiation despite similar origins and shared demographic history.

Bayash; Vlax Roma; mitochondrial DNA; founder effect; endogamy

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