The gene pool of the Slavs

The percentage of subclades of R1a relative to the total number of haplogroup R1a in Slavic populations by Underhill et. al. 2014

The gene pool of modern Slavs (as well as other peoples) is rather heterogeneous, however, all Slavic groups are characterized by the Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a1 (47% in Russians , up to 44% in Ukrainians and up to 50% in Belarus ). A significant part is also Finno-Ugric N3. On the outskirts of the range, the Slavs absorb haplogroups of neighboring peoples. The haplogroup N1c1 is characteristic of the northern Russian groups. For the southern Slavs, the haplogroup I2a (CTS10228) , testifying to the Balkan contribution, is not uncommon. Western Slavs are characterized by R1b ^{[3] [4]} . Studies have shown that in Russian populations the North European genetic component of maternal origin differs from the paternal line, which probably reflects the process of interethnic assimilation during the formation of the Russian nation since the Middle Ages ^[5] .

According to the assumption of geneticists, only in the west of the ethnic territory are Russians the genetic descendants of the Slavs, in the central part the Russian ethnos was formed due to the mixing of the Slavs and the pre-Slavic at that time Finnish-speaking and Baltic-speaking population, and in the east and in the northern part of the range only the replacement of pre-Slavic languages ​​and Slavic culture. The different geographical distribution of the mtDNA and Y-chromosome lines in Russian populations of genetics is explained by the different participation of men and women in the development of Eastern European territories. Only the initial stage of colonization was carried out by both men and women, as a result of the advancement of Slavic tribes to the east and north. In a later period, the assimilation of the local population took place mainly through men who married Aboriginal women ^{[5] [6]} .

Western Ukrainians differ from the eastern ones in the higher content of the Y chromosome haplogroup R1b ^[4] .

All Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, etc.) clearly fall into one group on the MDS diagram (a way of expressing the phylogenetic distance between organisms), which displays the variability of the Y chromosome (genetic distance), which indicates their genetic affinity and common origin ^[7] . The eastern Slavs have almost no Y-chromosome haplogroups Q and C associated with the expansion of the Khazars and Mongols ^{[7] [8]} .

Analysis of the mtDNA variability transmitted through the maternal line showed that the “mother” gene pools of the Slavic peoples have a very close composition, which generally coincides with the pan-European one ^[9] .

The development of genetic analysis methods allows a detailed study of the structure of the chromosome. Haplogroups reflect the “slow” (in evolutionary sense) accumulation of mutations in the Y chromosome, fixing its changes over the interval of tens of thousands of years. Another parameter, short tandem repeats (Y-STRs), is more volatile and reflects changes on a timeline of hundreds of years. Genetics used the Y-STR analysis on the Y chromosome to compare different Slavic populations, trying to determine the probable ancestral home of the Slavs by the ratio of the genetic parameters of these populations to each other ^[10] .

The essence of the method is the dependence of the rate of change of the gene pool on the size of the population: large populations are more stable, in small ones the changes are faster. Based on the assumption that a smaller part of the population is migrating, it is expected that over time, the frequencies and spectrum of the Y-STR variants can change in comparison with the original population living in the ancestral homeland. Moreover, due to the randomness of the frequency variation of existing variants (alleles) and the appearance of new mutations, the deviations between several migrating populations are more significant than between them and any initial population taken at different points in time. This is due to the well-known effect: random fluctuations on average do not change the frequency of alleles in a large population (or change very slowly), while fluctuations at the same rate within a smaller population can be more quickly recorded in the gene pool and start stably reproducing within this population.

A paired comparison shows (in descending order) the genetic proximity (parameter P> 0.05) of such Slavic populations as: Ukrainians, Slovaks , southern Belarusians , Russians (Muscovites), Slovenes , Russians (Novgorodians), northern Belarusians , Belarusians from the center, Poles ^[10] . It is difficult to establish the relative proximity in the list because of a statistical error - a small sample (number of people) from the studied populations. It is known that Poles are relatively close only ^[10] to Ukrainians, and their genetic remoteness (P = 0,0003) from the geographical neighbors of Belarusians precludes the possibility for the latter to have an ancestral home in Poland. Thus, genetic analysis ^[10] indicates the location of the ancestral home for the Western and Eastern Slavs , as well as Slovenes , representatives of the southern Slavs in the territory of modern Ukraine.

Some proximity to the Ukrainians is also shown by the Western Croats (P = 0.0246), and the Serbs and Bulgarians have no common ground with the Ukrainians (P = 0.0000).

The results obtained in the study ^{[10] are} to some extent confirmed by the development of the Prague-Korchak archaeological culture of the 5th – 6th centuries. From the upper Dniester and the middle Dnieper (Ukraine and southern Belarus), the bearers of culture moved west, skirting the western Carpathians (Slovakia). Then, from the upper Oder, the bearers of the Prague culture penetrated the Danube and further south. This path explains the genetic proximity of Slovaks and Slovenes (P = 0.6930). In the west of the Balkans, individual monuments of Prague culture were found only in the Slovenian region ^[11] . From the upper Oder and the Vistula, Prague culture passes into the Sukovo-Dziedzitsky (VI-VII centuries), which captures the territory of Poland.

As for the southern Slavs, their appearance in the Balkans is associated with carriers of the Penkovsky culture , which the authors of the Byzantine era called the Ants and distinguished them from other Slavs (see Ethnogenesis of the Slavs ).

The data series in the tables is rounded by 0.1 percent in minus or plus. The data in the tables are updated for 2017, according to an article on the website of European Genetics. ^[12]

Genetic data of Slavic peoples. The total number of Slavs is 300-350 million people. There are Western Slavs ( Poles , Silesians , Slovinians , Czechs , Slovaks , Kashubians , Moravians and Luzhiches ), Eastern Slavs ( Belarusians , Russians , Ukrainians ) and Southern Slavs ( Bulgarians , Serbs , Croats , Bosnians , Macedonians , Slovenes , Montenegrins ).

Read more about the distribution among non-Slavic peoples, a marker for the Slavs haplogroup, article - Haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA)

Distribution maps of some haplogroups.

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  R1b

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  I2

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  I1

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  G

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  J2

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  J

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  T

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  Q

R1a - the origin of this haplogroup, a debatable issue. There are several major versions. The emergence of this haplogroup is in contact with issues of migration and the spread of Indo-Europeans to Europe, their ethnogenesis and is a complex set of scientific and historical-linguistic problems.

N1a1 - this haplogroup appeared in Southern Siberia , it is a physical and geographical country covering the territory from the West Siberian to the Zeya-Bureya plain for more than 3,000 km. Its width is from 200 to 800 km. The southern border of the region is drawn along the state border of Russia with Kazakhstan , Mongolia and China .

Haplogroup Distribution Maps

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  H + H1 + H3

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  HV, U, U4, U5.

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  J

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  T

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  K

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  W

Haplogroup H (mtDNA) - A number of independent studies have shown that haplogroup H supposedly originated in West Asia about 30 thousand years ago, arrived in Europe about 20-25 thousand years ago, and quickly spread to the south-west of the continent in Franco-Cantabrian region ^{[19] [20]}

• Gene pool
• Ancient Slavs
• Ethnogenesis of the Slavs

• Russian haplogroups: genome and genetics of the Russian people
• Oleg Balanovsky . Panorama of peoples against the backdrop of Europe. Eastern and Western Slavs (series II)
• Oleg Balanovsky . Panorama of peoples against the backdrop of Europe. Southern Slavs (series V)