Research Article

Genetic variation in the enigmatic Altaian Kazakhs of South-Central Russia: Insights into Turkic population history

  1. Omer Gokcumen1,
  2. Matthew C. Dulik1,
  3. Athma A. Pai1,
  4. Sergey I. Zhadanov1,2,
  5. Samara Rubinstein1,
  6. Ludmila P. Osipova2,
  7. Oleg V. Andreenkov2,
  8. Ludmila E. Tabikhanova2,
  9. Marina A. Gubina2,
  10. Damian Labuda3,
  11. Theodore G. Schurr1,*

Article first published online: 5 MAR 2008

DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20802

Issue

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volume 136, Issue 3, pages 278–293, July 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Gokcumen, O., Dulik, M. C., Pai, A. A., Zhadanov, S. I., Rubinstein, S., Osipova, L. P., Andreenkov, O. V., Tabikhanova, L. E., Gubina, M. A., Labuda, D. and Schurr, T. G. (2008), Genetic variation in the enigmatic Altaian Kazakhs of South-Central Russia: Insights into Turkic population history. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 136: 278–293. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20802

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398

  2. 2

    Institute of Cytology and Genetics, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia 630090

  3. 3

    Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

*Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 325 University Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6398, USA

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 JUN 2008
  2. Article first published online: 5 MAR 2008
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 19 DEC 2007
  4. Manuscript Received: 8 NOV 2006

Funded by

  • University of Pennsylvania
  • National Science Foundation
  • Center for Undergraduate Research, Univ. of Penn. and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
  • Russian Basic Fund for Research

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Keywords:

  • mtDNA;
  • haplogroup;
  • haplotype Central Asia;
  • Mongolia

Abstract

The Altaian Kazakhs, a Turkic speaking group, now reside in the southern part of the Altai Republic in south-central Russia. According to historical accounts, they are one of several ethnic and geographical subdivisions of the Kazakh nomadic group that migrated from China and Western Mongolia into the Altai region during the 19th Century. However, their population history of the Altaian Kazakhs and the genetic relationships with other Kazakh groups and neighboring Turkic-speaking populations is not well understood. To begin elucidating their genetic history, we analyzed the mtDNAs from 237 Altaian Kazakhs through a combination of SNP analysis and HVS1 sequencing. This analysis revealed that their mtDNA gene pool was comprised of roughly equal proportions of East (A-G, M7, M13, Y and Z) and West (H, HV, pre-HV, R, IK, JT, X, U) Eurasian haplogroups, with the haplotypic diversity within haplogroups C, D, H, and U being particularly high. This pattern of diversity likely reflects the complex interactions of the Kazakhs with other Turkic groups, Mongolians, and indigenous Altaians. Overall, these data have important implications for Kazakh population history, the genetic prehistory of the Altai-Sayan region, and the phylogeography of major mitochondrial lineages in Eurasia. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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