Article

Genetic Structure in Relation to the History of Hungarian Ethnic Groups

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Abstract

The present analysis continues the study of 12 samples of 11 Hungarian ethnic groups and a collection of data from 8 foreign reference populations. The origin of these groups is entangled with the history of Hungary and specifically with the conquest of the Carpathian basin in the ninth century A.D. Given that each of the 11 groups has preserved its ethnic identity and assuming that genetic drift has played a major role, we expect that similarities and differences between the different Hungarian groups and between the Hungarian groups and the eight reference populations can be interpreted with respect to the controversial origin of the groups. The reference populations are those whose ancestors had high involvement in Hungarian history. We use multivariate statistical methods to analyze the gene frequencies of 22 loci. The results show that the Hungarian ethnic groups are genetically separate and that this separation is related to different migration waves. According to our results, Gypsies and Jews, who migrated relatively recently to Hungary, are distant from the other groups and, as predicted, appear to be genetically close to the North Indian and Ashkenazi reference populations, respectively. The Oriental population is least related to the Hungarian groups, but the distance diminishes when the P1 locus, which shows particularly high variability, is included. Some ethnic groups, especially Orség and Csángó, show genetic isolation and specific affinities with the reference populations that are related to their origin, namely, Slavs and Finns-Turks-Iranians, respectively. Other affinities were less striking than tradition would lead us to expect. Gene flow and admixture, as revealed by the significant correlation between genetic and geographic distances, may have played an important role in smoothing genetic differences between groups.

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... At the eastern border of Transylvania and Moldova, east of the area populated by the Székely and in a mountainous area at the upper flow of the River Trotus, lives the so-called Csángó population of Ghimes. The Székely and Csángó are probably related to the conquering Magyars (Guglielmino & Beres, 1996), but differ in their more recent historical background; the Roman Catholic Csángós in Ghimes are thought to be an ethnic subgroup of the Székely. ...
... They spoke, like modern Hungarians, a Uralic language belonging to the Finno-Ugric language group. In this area, recorded history begins with the Roman conquest of the western part of the Carpathian basin in 9 B.C. (Guglielmino & Beres, 1996), when it became the province of Pannonia. The frontier held until the third century A.D., when barbarian invasions brought successive waves of depopulation and repopulation as the original inhabitants fled and were replaced by nomadic Germanic and Slavic tribes. ...
... One theory suggests that the Székely are a Hungarian group that settled in Transylvania to protect the borders of the country (Czeizel et al. 1991). Other theories suggest that the Székely, like the Hungarians, descend from the Magyars (Guglielmino & Beres, 1996), and that cultural differences with other Hungarian groups stem from their relative isolation in the mountains. The only undisputed fact seems to be that the Székely population has been living in that area of Transylvania, where it is found today (in the counties of Kovaszna and Harghita), since the beginning of the 13 th century (Balinth, 1995;Tanczos, 1999). ...
Article
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Article
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... Genetic analyses of Hungarian populations found some, but only very little, connection to Asian populations and found results that are mostly typical of other Europeans (Guglielmino and Béres 1996;Guglielmino et al. 2000;Semino et al. 2000), despite Hungarian being one of the six non-Indo-European languages spoken in Europe and evidence for at least some connections between genetic changes and linguistic borders (Barbujani and Sokal 1990), suggesting that Magyars imposed their language on Hungarians but seem not to have significantly affected their genetic structure (Semino et al. 2000). ...
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Article
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In this paper we examine the effects of ethnicity on the gene flow between two groups living in Limón, Costa Rica. Our main interest is to determine if ethnicity has acted as a barrier to the exchange of genes, and if the groups have remained distinct genetically. We report the admixture estimates, F(st) values, and inbreeding coefficients of the two samples. The data consist of blood samples and surnames obtained from 375 individuals. The subjects' two surnames were analyzed to determine the ethnicity of their parents (individuals carry their father's and mother's first surnames). We used the formula of Crow and Mange ([1965] Eugen Q 12:199-203) to compute F(t), F(n), and F(r) with the surnames. Admixture estimates were computed for both groups using the computer program ADMIX.PAS kindly provided by Jeffrey Long. The estimates for the Hispanic-Limonense group are M1 = 0.5866 European, M2 = 0.3383 Amerindian, and M3 = 0.0751 African ancestry. For the Afro-Limonense group, the admixture estimates indicate M1 = 0.1047 European, M2 = 0.1357 Amerindian, and M3 = 0.7595 African ancestry. The F(st) values are F(st) = 0.00558 for the Hispanic group and F(st) = 0.05137 for the Afro-Limonense group. These F(st) values indicate that the Afro-Limonense group has experienced more genetic drift than has the other group, possibly as a result of its long history of isolation in Costa Rica. Indeed, when plotted along a scaled eigenvector R matrix of Caribbean gene frequencies, the two Limonense groups did not cluster with each other. Thus we conclude that the two ethnic groups have remained distinct breeding populations.
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Since 1985, when a bibliography concerning studies on surnames and genetic structure appeared, the number of publications on this subject has increased a thousandfold. New topics and uses have been added, but large gaps in knowledge remain. Only studies on isonymy in cities of nation states for recent times are well covered, and most studies are on populations that were selected because they are isolated and not because they are typical. This review, although not exhaustive, covers the literature published since 1985.
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Italian provinces may constitute a basic geographic unit that is big enough to be genetically structured but small enough to be analyzed intensively. In the present study surnames starting with three different letters of the alphabet were sampled from the telephone directory and used as a relatively simple and efficient way to cast light on the genetic and demographic pattern of the province and to prove the sampling efficiency. The 189 communes of the province of Pavia were grouped into 13 subregions composed of geographically clustered communes, and the relationships among them were examined using principal components analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The three samples show a concordant pattern: The Po and Ticino rivers are geographic barriers and subdivide the province into three regions (Lomellina, Pavese, and Oltrepó), which therefore appear to be genetifally differentiated. Both PCA and cluster analysis indicate that the main division is between the Oltrepó and the Pavese-Lomellina clusters and that it corresponds to the separation created by the Po River. The second split separates Lomellina from Pavese and thus parallels the Ticino River. The Lomellina subregions are more clustered than those of Pavese or Oltrepó. Furthermore, Lomellina has the highest number of surnames that are found only in a single area. This finding is possible due to endogamy dating back to an ancient border (valid until 1860) that separated Lomellina from the rest of Lombardy. Furthermore, Lomellina shows the highest frequency of surnames present only in one of the 13 subregions and the lowest percentage of unique surnames; both facts may describe genetic isolation of the area. A correlation is also seen between the percentage of surnames present only once in each of the 13 subregions and the census immigration rate: Both indicate the tendency of reduced immigration into the bigger towns. Particular discordances between the two estimates may reflect local or tourism-related migration.