engleski

The Role of the Vlax Roma in Shaping the European Romani Maternal Genetic History

The Roma are comprised of many foundergroups of common Indian origins but different socio-culturalcharacteristics. The Vlax Roma are one of the founderRoma populations characterized by a period of bondage inthe historic Romanian principalities, and by the archaicRomanian language. Demographic history suggests differentmigration routes of Roma populations, especially aftertheir arrival in Mesopotamia and the eastern boundary ofthe Byzantine Empire. Although various genetic studies ofuniparental genetic markers showed a connection betweenRoma genetic legacy and their migration routes, precisesampling of Roma populations elucidates this relationshipin more detail. In this study, we analyzed mitochondrialDNA of 384 Croatian Vlax Roma from two geographic locationsin the context of 734 European Roma samples. Ourresults show that Roma migration routes are marked with two Near-Eastern haplogroups, X2 and U3, whose inverseproportional incidence clearly separates the Balkan andthe Vlax Roma from other Roma populations that reachedEurope as part of the first migration wave. Spatial andtemporal characteristics of these haplogroups indicate apossibility of their admixture with Roma populations beforearrival in Europe. Distribution of haplogroup M35 indicatesthat all Vlax Roma populations descend from one singlefounder population that might even reach back to theoriginal ancestral Indian population. Founder effects followedby strict endogamy rules can be traced from India tocontemporary small, local communities, as in the case oftwo Croatian Vlax Roma populations that show clear populationdifferentiation despite similar origins and shared demographichistory.

mtDNA haplogroups; Roma; Vlax Roma

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