Origins of the Finno-Ugralic peoples?

[PeterThaGreat]

To enhance my Finnish skills I loaned a book by Jouku Vauhkola (Suomen historia, 2003) This professor of Finlands and scandinavian history argues that based on the archelogical evidencies there waves of Scandinavian immigrants to the western and southern coast of Finland starting from (1700BC to 500BC) This time frame which conincides with Scandinavian Bronze had a strong impact on Finnish genetics and further divided the Inland population (Lapps/Samis) and Finns. The Iron age brought new immigrants from Scandinavia and particularly from Gottland.

Results:

Regional differences among the Finns: A Y-chromosomal perspective.

Lappalainen T, Koivumaki S, Salmela E, Huoponen K, Sistonen P, Savontaus ML, Lahermo P.

Twenty-two Y-chromosomal markers, consisting of fourteen biallelic markers (YAP/DYS287, M170, M253, P37, M223, 12f2, M9, P43, Tat, 92R7, P36, SRY-1532, M17, P25) and eight STRs (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS388, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393), were analyzed in 536 unrelated Finnish males from eastern and western subpopulations of Finland. The aim of the study was to analyze regional differences in genetic variation within the country, and to analyze the population history of the Finns. Our results gave further support to the existence of a sharp genetic border between eastern and western Finns so far observed exclusively in Y-chromosomal variation. Both biallelic haplogroup and STR haplotype networks showed bifurcated structures, and similar clustering was evident in haplogroup and haplotype frequencies and genetic distances. These results suggest that the western and eastern parts of the country have been subject to partly different population histories, which is also supported by earlier archaeological, historical and genetic data. It seems probable that early migrations from Finno-Ugric sources affected the whole country, whereas subsequent migrations from Scandinavia had an impact mainly on the western parts of the country. The contacts between Finland and neighboring Finno-Ugric, Scandinavian and Baltic regions are evident. However, there is no support for recent migrations from Siberia and Central Europe. Our results emphasize the importance of incorporating Y-chromosomal data to reveal the population substructure which is often left undetected in mitochondrial DNA variation. Early assumptions of the homogeneity of the isolated Finnish population have now proven to be false, which may also have implications for future association studies.







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[Ikutiera]

Transferrin Variants as Markers of Migrations and Admixture between Populations in the Baltic Sea Region

Finland has the highest TF*C3 frequency observed in the world [11, 12]. The high frequency in Finns and the fact that the TF*C3 allele is absent in most Asiatic populations indicate that it might have its origin in Finno-Ugric populations [11]. If this is the case, one would expect a high TF*C3 frequency also in the Estonians. However, the TF*C3 frequency is very low in Estonia [16]. We found a relatively high TF*C3 frequency on the island of Saaremaa (12.6%), which, however, is not in agreement with a previous study by Parik [16], who found a lower frequency on this island (5%). Thus the TF*C3 frequency appears to be generally low in Estonia, perhaps with some increase on the island of Saaremaa. The TF*C3 frequencies in western Europe vary between 2 and 7%, with a tendency towards a gradual increase in the northeastern direction [17]. One exception are the Saamis, who have a very low (1-2%) TF*C3 frequency [11, 17]. With the exception of some Estonian areas, the TF*C3 frequencies in the populations of the Baltic Sea region were higher than in western Europe. In central Sweden [18] the TF*C3 is somewhat higher (8.5%) than in Västerbotten county (5.2%) in northern Sweden [11] and southern Sweden (6.0%) [17], probably depending on some degree of eastern influence. The island of Gotland showed a still higher TF*C3 frequency, for the whole island (10%). This figure is higher than the previous observations in Sweden and western Europe as a whole.

Transferrin Variants as Markers of Migrations and Admixture between Populations in the Baltic Sea Region