engleski

Maternal genetic heritage of Uskoks from Žumberak in the context of a broader SE European genetic diversity

Croatia is known in the world of population genetics for its many island isolates that have already been extensively studied. Although the Adriatic islands present most interesting Croatian subpopulations, northwestern population of Žumberak also offers an interesting genetic story based on a turbulent demographic history. This part of Croatia is populated by descendants of Uskoks, Croatian soldiers who fought a guerrilla war against the Ottomans in 16th century and were relocated together with their families several times during their past, settling at the end on Žumberak. We have analyzed mitochondrial DNA SNPs of 81 unrelated individuals of the Uskok population in Žumberak. Although all typical European haplogroups were represented in the sample, a significantly higher prevalence of certain subhaplogroups and some new haplotypes were detected. Namely, subhaplogroup J2 has an average frequency of 1-2% in the general Croatian, Slovenian, Bosnian and Herzegovinian population and on Žumberak it is represented with 11.3%. Similarly, subhaplogroup H14 with an HVSI-motif 16256-16362 is completely absent from all the mentioned surrounding populations and on Žumberak its frequency equals 5.6%. Altogether, subhaplogroups H12, H14, J2 and U2e, relatively rare (<2.5%) or completely absent from other neighboring populations, make 1/3 of the maternal genetic heritage of Žumberak. Also, Žumberak has the lowest gene diversity index when compared to other neighboring countries and it shows the closest connection to Slovenians, based on Fst values. We can conclude from our results that the Uskoks from Žumberak developed some unique haplotypes and elevated haplogroup frequencies during their genetic history probably due to population bottlenecks and the accompanying effect of genetic drift. However, it seems their recent genetic history (the last four centuries) has had more impact on their maternal genetic landscape than the earlier historical migrations, since they are most closely related to the neighboring Slovenians.

mtDNA variation; Žumberak; Uskoks; evolutionary forces; demography

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