[Defensor Fidei]

The Peopling of Modern Bosnia-Herzegovina:
Y - chromosome Haplogroups in the Three
Main Ethnic Groups

D. Marjanovic1*, S. Fornarino2, S. Montagna2, D. Primorac3-4, R. Hadziselimovic1, S. Vidovic5,
N. Pojskic1, V. Battaglia2, A. Achilli2, K. Drobnic6, S. Andjelinovic3, A. Torroni2, A. S. Santachiara-Benerecetti2 and O. Semino2t

1 Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2 Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia "A. Buzzati-Traverso", Universita di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
3 Medical School at Split University, Split, Croatia
4 Medical School at Osijek University, Osijek, Croatia
5 Faculty of Medicine, University of Banjaluka, Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
6 Forensic Laboratory and Research Center, Ministry of the Interior, Ljubljana, Slovenia


Summary

The variation at 28 Y-chromosome biaUelic markers was analysed in 256 males (90 Croats, 81 Serbs and 85 Bosniacs)
from Bosnia-Herzegovina. An important shared feature between the three ethnic groups is the high frequency of the "Palaeolithic" European-specific haplogroup (Hg) I, a likely signature of a Balkan population re-expansion after the Last Glacial Maximum. This haplogroup is almost completely epresented by the sub-haplogroup I-P37 whose frequency is, however, higher in the Croats (~71%) than in Bosniacs (~44%) and Serbs (~31%). Other rather frequent haplogroups are E (~ 15%) and J (~ 7%), which are considered to have arrived from the Middle East in Neolithic and post-Neolithic times, and R-M17 (~ 14%), which probably marked several arrivals, at different times, from eastern Eurasia. Hg E, almost exclusively represented by its subclade E-M78, is more common in the Serbs (~20%) than in Bosniacs (~13%) and Croats (~9%), and HgJ, observed in only one Croat, encompasses ^ 9% of the Serbs and ~ 12% of the Bosniacs, where it shows its highest diversification. By contrast, Hg R-M17 displays similar frequencies in all three groups.