It has been established, based on ancient DNA analysis of early Neolithic skeletons from various Central - European sites, that the frequency of N1a mtDNA haplogroup was 150 times more prevalent among first Neolithic farmers than in contemporary European populations (only 0.2 %), suggesting that first Neolithic farmers did not have a strong impact on maternal genetic heritage of modern Europeans. This Neolithic type of N1a haplogroup belong to European sub - branch defined by control region 16147A variant. Here we present the influence of first Neolithic farmers in Southern – Eastern Europe due to finding of N1a mtDNA haplogroup in populations of Croatia with its Adriatic Islands as well as Herzegovina, and complete lack of this haplogroup among populations of Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro. We also present very interesting finding of even more ancestral lineage of N1a haplogroup in Croatian mainland and on two different Islands (Pag and Cres) belonging to African/South Asian branch characterized by control region motif 16147G. This branch is more prevalent in Arabian Peninsula and northern Africa and limitedly present also around Israel, Iran, Turkey and Greece and it is very rare in any European populations. On the Croatian island of Cres, this very unusual N1a lineage of the unknown origin has been recorded. Due to the influence of genetic drift the prevalence of this lineage is around 9, 24% in total Island population. To the best of our knowledge this is the most prevalent finding of this haplogroup in any investigated population so far. |
