View Full Version : Genetic history of Calabrian Greeks reveals ancient events and long term isolation in the Aspromonte
Tacitus
02-05-2021, 12:18 PM
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82591-9
Calabrian Greeks are an enigmatic population that have preserved and evolved a unique variety of language, Greco, survived in the isolated Aspromonte mountain area of Southern Italy. To understand their genetic ancestry and explore possible effects of geographic and cultural isolation, we genome-wide genotyped a large set of South Italian samples including both communities that still speak Greco nowadays and those that lost the use of this language earlier in time. Comparisons with modern and ancient populations highlighted ancient, long-lasting genetic links with Eastern Mediterranean and Caucasian/Near-Eastern groups as ancestral sources of Southern Italians. Our results suggest that the Aspromonte communities might be interpreted as genetically drifted remnants that departed from such ancient genetic background as a consequence of long-term isolation. Specific patterns of population structuring and higher levels of genetic drift were indeed observed in these populations, reflecting geographic isolation amplified by cultural differences in the groups that still conserve the Greco language. Isolation and drift also affected the current genetic differentiation at specific gene pathways, prompting for future genome-wide association studies aimed at exploring trait-related loci that have drifted up in frequency in these isolated groups.
Tacitus
02-05-2021, 12:25 PM
Previous surveys on the ancient genetic legacy of Southern Italy pointed to genetic contributions linking Southern Italy and Mediterranean Greek islands with Anatolia and the Caucasus tracing back to migratory events occurred during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, in which the Mediterranean served as a preferential crossroad3,13,27. In particular, while the expansion of Anatolian Neolithic farmers significantly impacted all the Peninsula, differential Bronze-Age contributions were observed for Southern Italy with respect to Northern Italian populations. Bronze Age influences in the gene pool of Southern Italians have been in fact associated to a non-steppe Caucasian-related ancestry carried along the Mediterranean shores at the same time, but independently from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe migrations that occurred through Continental Europe. Consistently with this viewpoint, genetic analyses performed by comparing our modern populations with the main ancient ancestral sources have displayed the clustering of analysed Southern Italian groups with Neolithic and Bronze Age samples from Anatolian, Aegean Minoan and Mycenaean populations, as opposed to the affinity of Northern Italy with Late-Neolithic and Bronze-Age samples from continental Europe (Suppl. Figure S8). Accordingly, both f3-outgroup, qpGraph and qpAdmixture analyses (Fig. 4, Suppl. Figure S9, Suppl. Figure S10) revealed influences related to a Steppe ancestry in the Northern Italian groups, instead paralleled in Southern Italy by an analogous Caucasian-related contribution from a non-Steppe CHG/Iran_N source.
https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-021-82591-9/MediaObjects/41598_2021_82591_Fig4_HTML.png?as=webp
https://i.imgur.com/mp9wbtT.png
Samnium
02-05-2021, 12:39 PM
I will read it. Calabrian Greeks have been heavily isolated in the Aspromonte region, I would like to see also provinces like Cosenza sampled or also Crotone.
Samnium
02-05-2021, 12:54 PM
Reading it, Griko people seem to have retained either a byzantine heritage or a mycenean one. They appear to have low steppe contribution and non-existent WHG.
Stark difference between Benevento and Aspromonte samples.
Benevento would be in line with Abruzzo, Molise and Apulia. Aspromonte samples are like the calabrian average of G25.
Samnium
02-05-2021, 01:00 PM
There are Beneventans that score like Central Italians. Same for Castrovillari. I would like to see more Cosentians, other than Castrovillari
https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-021-82591-9/MediaObjects/41598_2021_82591_Fig2_HTML.png?as=webp
Ajeje Brazorf
02-05-2021, 01:04 PM
Supplementary Table S8. Results of four-population scenarios modelled with qpAdmix for the Italian populations using ancient putative sources.
Supplementary Table S8. Results of four-population scenarios modelled with qpAdmix for the Italian populations using ancient putative sources.
Population
Ancestral Components
Standard Errors
P-value
Iran_N
WHG
Steppe_EMBA
Anatolia_N
Iran_N
WHG
Steppe_EMBA
Anatolia_N
Sardinian
0,145
0,122
0,075
0,658
0,018
0,007
0,016
0,013
0,4857
North_Italy
0,157
0,079
0,272
0,492
0,016
0,007
0,015
0,013
0,5794
Benevento
0,240
0,039
0,168
0,553
0,019
0,007
0,016
0,014
0,0854
Castrovillari
0,251
0,037
0,161
0,551
0,018
0,007
0,015
0,014
0,2623
Catanzaro
0,278
0,025
0,131
0,566
0,018
0,007
0,015
0,014
0,0262
Aspromonte
0,292
0,024
0,113
0,571
0,022
0,009
0,019
0,017
0,0449
Tacitus
02-05-2021, 01:07 PM
There are Beneventans that score like Central Italians. Same for Castrovillari. I would like to see more Cosentians, other than Castrovillari
https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-021-82591-9/MediaObjects/41598_2021_82591_Fig2_HTML.png?as=webp
Well hopefully the raw data will become available so we can get a closer look at these samples.
What I want to know is when and how exactly southern Italy received its Iran_N/CHG component. We know from Moots et al there was some Iran_N input in Italy as early as the Neolithic but it seems like most of it came during the Bronze Age, at least in the south. Did it come straight from the Caucasus and Anatolia or was it mediated through Greece and the Balkans? We still need samples from earlier southern Italian cultures (Gaudo and Apennine) to know for sure I guess.
Samnium
02-05-2021, 01:13 PM
Well hopefully the raw data will become available so we can get a closer look at these samples.
What I want to know is when and how exactly southern Italy received its Iran_N/CHG component. We know from Moots et al there was some Iran_N input in Italy as early as the Neolithic but it seems like most of it came during the Bronze Age, at least in the south. Did it come straight from the Caucasus and Anatolia or was it mediated through Greece and the Balkans? We still need samples from earlier southern Italian cultures (Gaudo and Apennine) to know for sure I guess.
I don't really know, I think that Greek colonization had a huge impact because if Italic tribes like Samnites, Bruttians etc. were like the Italic of Lazio (very likely), the change has been taken place after the arrival of these people.
It's impossible to explain if most of the Iran-Neo admixture come from Bronze Age.
Ajeje Brazorf
02-05-2021, 01:25 PM
Well hopefully the raw data will become available so we can get a closer look at these samples.
What I want to know is when and how exactly southern Italy received its Iran_N/CHG component. We know from Moots et al there was some Iran_N input in Italy as early as the Neolithic but it seems like most of it came during the Bronze Age, at least in the south. Did it come straight from the Caucasus and Anatolia or was it mediated through Greece and the Balkans? We still need samples from earlier southern Italian cultures (Gaudo and Apennine) to know for sure I guess.
List of ancient DNA from Italy, in chronological order and with relative percentage of CHG and Iran_Neo:
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>
CHG
IRAN
ITA_Villabruna:Villabruna
0.8
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR11
0.0
1.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR7
0.8
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR15
0.0
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR2
0.0
1.8
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR3
0.0
1.8
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR8
1.4
3.6
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR10
2.2
1.2
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR9
2.8
1.4
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR18
0.0
7.4
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR17
4.8
1.0
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR16
0.0
5.2
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N_o:RMPR6
0.0
0.0
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR19
1.4
4.4
ITA_Monte_San_Biagio_CA:RMPR1014
0.0
2.0
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4063
0.0
0.4
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4062
0.0
3.8
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4065
1.0
1.0
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4064
1.0
0.8
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE487
0.0
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_CA:RMPR4
0.0
3.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_CA:RMPR5
0.0
0.0
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE489
0.0
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I11443
14.6
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I8561
5.0
1.2
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I11442
9.0
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3123
2.2
7.6
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3122
0.0
1.6
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I7807
7.2
0.0
Bell_Beaker_ITA:I2478
9.8
2.0
Bell_Beaker_ITA:I1979
8.6
5.4
Bell_Beaker_ITA_o:I2477
0.0
0.0
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE486
0.6
0.8
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3124
7.4
0.0
ITA_Sicily_MBA:I4109
4.4
7.2
ITA_Sicily_MBA:I3125
6.6
8.2
ITA_Olmo_di_Nogara_MBA:S18130
3.0
0.0
ITA_Olmo_di_Nogara_MBA:S18132
2.2
0.8
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I3878
6.4
3.8
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I10372
8.6
2.2
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I3876
12.8
2.4
ITA_Proto-Villanovan:RMPR1
14.8
0.0
ITA_Villanovan:RMPR1015
10.0
0.0
ITA_Rome_Latini_IA:RMPR1016
10.8
0.0
ITA_Boville_Ernica_IA:RMPR1021
11.8
0.0
ITA_Etruscan:RMPR473
11.6
0.0
ITA_Etruscan:RMPR474b
12.0
1.6
ITA_Etruscan_o1:RMPR475b
6.8
3.2
ITA_Ardea_Latini_IA_o:RMPR850
18.4
11.8
ITA_Ardea_Latini_IA:RMPR851
9.2
0.0
ITA_Prenestini_tribe_IA:RMPR435b
11.0
0.0
ITA_Prenestini_tribe_IA_o:RMPR437b
17.8
3.2
</tbody>
andre
02-05-2021, 01:53 PM
List of ancient DNA from Italy, in chronological order and with relative percentage of CHG and Iran_Neo:
<colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody>
CHG
IRAN
ITA_Villabruna:Villabruna
0.8
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR11
0.0
1.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR7
0.8
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_Meso:RMPR15
0.0
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR2
0.0
1.8
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR3
0.0
1.8
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR8
1.4
3.6
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR10
2.2
1.2
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N:RMPR9
2.8
1.4
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR18
0.0
7.4
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR17
4.8
1.0
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR16
0.0
5.2
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_N_o:RMPR6
0.0
0.0
ITA_Ripabianca_di_Monterado_N:RMPR19
1.4
4.4
ITA_Monte_San_Biagio_CA:RMPR1014
0.0
2.0
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4063
0.0
0.4
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4062
0.0
3.8
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4065
1.0
1.0
ITA_Sicily_MN:I4064
1.0
0.8
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE487
0.0
0.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_CA:RMPR4
0.0
3.0
ITA_Grotta_Continenza_CA:RMPR5
0.0
0.0
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE489
0.0
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I11443
14.6
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I8561
5.0
1.2
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I11442
9.0
0.0
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3123
2.2
7.6
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3122
0.0
1.6
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I7807
7.2
0.0
Bell_Beaker_ITA:I2478
9.8
2.0
Bell_Beaker_ITA:I1979
8.6
5.4
Bell_Beaker_ITA_o:I2477
0.0
0.0
ITA_Remedello_BA:RISE486
0.6
0.8
ITA_Sicily_EBA:I3124
7.4
0.0
ITA_Sicily_MBA:I4109
4.4
7.2
ITA_Sicily_MBA:I3125
6.6
8.2
ITA_Olmo_di_Nogara_MBA:S18130
3.0
0.0
ITA_Olmo_di_Nogara_MBA:S18132
2.2
0.8
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I3878
6.4
3.8
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I10372
8.6
2.2
ITA_Sicily_LBA:I3876
12.8
2.4
ITA_Proto-Villanovan:RMPR1
14.8
0.0
ITA_Villanovan:RMPR1015
10.0
0.0
ITA_Rome_Latini_IA:RMPR1016
10.8
0.0
ITA_Boville_Ernica_IA:RMPR1021
11.8
0.0
ITA_Etruscan:RMPR473
11.6
0.0
ITA_Etruscan:RMPR474b
12.0
1.6
ITA_Etruscan_o1:RMPR475b
6.8
3.2
ITA_Ardea_Latini_IA_o:RMPR850
18.4
11.8
ITA_Ardea_Latini_IA:RMPR851
9.2
0.0
ITA_Prenestini_tribe_IA:RMPR435b
11.0
0.0
ITA_Prenestini_tribe_IA_o:RMPR437b
17.8
3.2
</tbody>
With CHG in this table, it means extra steppe CHG ancestry?
A lot of this samples in G25 don’t require extra CHG.. especially Iron Age italian samples.
Ajeje Brazorf
02-05-2021, 02:14 PM
With CHG in this table, it means extra steppe CHG ancestry?
A lot of this samples in G25 don’t require extra CHG.. especially Iron Age italian samples.
Just CHG. Yamnaya_RUS_Samara scores about 36%.
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