Paternal and maternal lineages in the Balkans show a homogeneous landscape over linguistic barriers, except for the isolated Aromuns.

The Balkan Peninsula is a complex cultural mosaic comprising populations speaking languages from several branches of the Indo-European family and Altaic, as well as culturally-defined minorities such as the Aromuns who speak a Romance language. The current cultural and linguistic landscape is a palimpsest in which different peoples have contributed their cultures in a historical succession. We have sought to find any evidence of genetic stratification related to those cultural layers by typing both mtDNA and Y chromosomes, in Albanians, Romanians, Macedonians, Greeks, and five Aromun populations. We have paid special attention to the Aromuns, and sought to test genetically various hypotheses on their origins. MtDNA and Y-chromosome haplogroup frequencies in the Balkans were found to be similar to those elsewhere in Europe. MtDNA sequences and Y-chromosome STR haplotypes revealed decreased variation in some Aromun populations. Variation within Aromun populations was the primary source of genetic differentiation. Y-chromosome haplotypes tended to be shared across Aromuns, but not across non-Aromun populations. These results point to a possible common origin of the Aromuns, with drift acting to differentiate the separate Aromun communities. The homogeneity of Balkan populations prevented testing for the origin of the Aromuns, although a significant Roman contribution can be ruled out.

Phenotype and allele frequencies of some serum protein polymorphisms in populations of the Balkans.

Within a study of the genetics of Southeastern European populations seven serum protein polymorphisms (AMY2, BF, C3, CP, GC, HPA, TF) were examined in two samples of Aromuns and one reference sample (Musequiar-Aromuns from Dukasi in Albania, Moskopolian-Aromuns from Krusevo, Republic of Macedonia, and Macedonians from Skopje). The neighbor joining tree as well as the principal component analysis show results which do not correspond well to the geographic and historic background. This indicates that in the present case the serum protein polymorphisms give no clearly defined information about the relationships between the Balkan populations and to the origin of Aromuns.

Allele frequencies of D21S11, FGA, TH01, and VWA in populations of the Balkans.

This study is part of an extensive investigation of the genetic relationship between Balkan populations, especially the Aromuns. Allele frequencies of four STRs (D21S11, FGA, TH01, VWA) from Macedonians (Skopje), Gramostian Aromuns from the Stip region (Macedonia), Moskopolian Aromuns from Krusevo (Macedonia), and Musequiar Aromuns from Dukasi (Albania) are presented.

Maternal and paternal lineages in Albania and the genetic structure of Indo-European populations.

Mitochondrial DNA HV1 sequences and Y chromosome haplotypes (DYS19 STR and YAP) were characterised in an Albanian sample and compared with those of several other Indo-European populations from the European continent. No significant difference was observed between Albanians and most other Europeans, despite the fact that Albanians are clearly different from all other Indo-Europeans linguistically. We observe a general lack of genetic structure among Indo-European populations for both maternal and paternal polymorphisms, as well as low levels of correlation between linguistics and genetics, even though slightly more significant for the Y chromosome than for mtDNA. Altogether, our results show that the linguistic structure of continental Indo-European populations is not reflected in the variability of the mitochondrial and Y chromosome markers. This discrepancy could be due to very recent differentiation of Indo-European populations in Europe and/or substantial amounts of gene flow among these populations.

Gene differentiation at the AB0, MN and Rhesus loci among Albanians and their relation with other Balkanic populations.

The population of 26 Albanian districts were analysed for AB0, MN and Rhesus blood group systems. The dendrogram based on genetic distances showed a closer relationship between districts with a higher population density and a higher gene flow. It was shown that, of all Balkan populations, the most closely related were those from Slavic areas and that the Albanian population was the most distinct.