The Genetic Structure of Western Balkan Populations Based on Autosomal markers (New Paper)

[safinator]

Contemporary inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula belong to several ethnic groups of diverse cultural background. In this study, three ethnic groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosniacs, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs - as well as the populations of Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegrins and Kosovars have been characterized for the genetic variation of 660 000 genome-wide autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms and for haploid markers. New autosomal data of the 70 individuals together with previously published data of 20 individuals from the populations of the Western Balkan region in a context of 695 samples of global range have been analysed. Comparison of the variation data of autosomal and haploid lineages of the studied Western Balkan populations reveals a concordance of the data in both sets and the genetic uniformity of the studied populations, especially of Western South-Slavic speakers. The genetic variation of Western Balkan populations reveals the continuity between the Middle East and Europe via the Balkan region and supports the scenario that one of the major routes of ancient gene flows and admixture went through the Balkan Peninsula.

Paper is of 2 days ago (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105090)

[Sisak]

Bosnians and Croats are similar to Hungarians and Eastern European population according to this.

[Guapo]

Bosnians and Croats are similar to Hungarians and Eastern European population according to this.

oh okay

[Arch Hades]

Wish they sampled Greeks, always interested in the differences between Greeks and other Balkanites.

[RandoBloom]

90 individuals, only from Bosnia and Kosovo is hardly any sample.
What are the result summary?

[Gaston]

Wish they sampled Greeks, always interested in the differences between Greeks and other Balkanites.

A PCA is available where most of the "West Eurasian" variation is present, Greeks included.

As expected, Kosovars are the most Southern population of the bunch while Croats are very northern.

[safinator]

IBD sharing with some Middle Eastern populations.

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/previews.figshare.com/1647226/preview_1647226.jpg

[Black Wolf]

Bosnians and Croats are similar to Hungarians and Eastern European population according to this.

They very well could be.

[Crn Volk]

According to these studies, the populations of the Balkan Peninsula have been shown to be genetically homogenous and their uniparentally inherited variation is in concordance with the European genetic continuum.

Interesting