ABSTRACT
Iran is located along the Central Asian corridor, a natural artery that has served as a cross-continental route since the first anatomically modern human populations migrated out of Africa. We compiled and reanalyzed the HVS-I (hypervariable segment-I) of 3840 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 19 Iranian populations and from 26 groups from adjacent countries to give a comprehensive review of the maternal genetic variation and investigate the impact of historical events and cultural factors on the maternal genetic structure of modern Iranians. We conclude that Iranians have a high level of genetic diversity. Thirty-six haplogroups were observed in Iran's populations, and most of them belong to widespread West-Eurasian haplogroups, such as H, HV, J, N, T, and U. In contrast, the predominant haplogroups observed in most of the adjacent countries studied here are H, M, D, R, U, and C haplogroups. Using principal component analysis, clustering, and genetic distance-based calculations, we estimated moderate genetic relationships between Iranian and other Eurasian groups. Further, analyses of molecular variance and comparing geographic and genetic structures indicate that mtDNA HVS-I sequence diversity does not exhibit any sharp geographic structure in the country. Barring a few from some culturally distinct and naturally separated minorities, most Iranian populations have a homogenous maternal genetic structure.
