We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Reconstructing Roma History from Genome-Wide Data.
- Authors
Moorjani, Priya; Patterson, Nick; Loh, Po-Ru; Lipson, Mark; Kisfali, Péter; Melegh, Bela I.; Bonin, Michael; Kádaši, Ľudevít; Rieß, Olaf; Berger, Bonnie; Reich, David; Melegh, Béla
- Abstract
The Roma people, living throughout Europe and West Asia, are a diverse population linked by the Romani language and culture. Previous linguistic and genetic studies have suggested that the Roma migrated into Europe from South Asia about 1,000–1,500 years ago. Genetic inferences about Roma history have mostly focused on the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA. To explore what additional information can be learned from genome-wide data, we analyzed data from six Roma groups that we genotyped at hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We estimate that the Roma harbor about 80% West Eurasian ancestry–derived from a combination of European and South Asian sources–and that the date of admixture of South Asian and European ancestry was about 850 years before present. We provide evidence for Eastern Europe being a major source of European ancestry, and North-west India being a major source of the South Asian ancestry in the Roma. By computing allele sharing as a measure of linkage disequilibrium, we estimate that the migration of Roma out of the Indian subcontinent was accompanied by a severe founder event, which appears to have been followed by a major demographic expansion after the arrival in Europe.
- Subjects
GENOMICS; HUMAN genetic variation; MITOCHONDRIAL DNA; ROMANIES; HUMAN migrations; HUMAN genome; DATA analysis; HUMAN chromosomes
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2013, Vol 8, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0058633