Genetic Portraits of the Yakut Regional Populations (Based on Y-Chromosome Polymorphism Data)
Genetic Portraits of the Yakut Regional Populations (Based on Y-Chromosome Polymorphism Data)
doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.144-154
D.S. Adamov1, A.Y. Potanina1, Y.V. Bogunov1, M.K. Zhabagin2, and E.V. Balanovska1 1Bochkov Research Center for Medical Genetics, Moskvorechye 1, Moscow, 115522, Russia 2LLP “National Center of Biotechnology”, Kurgalzhynskoye road 13/5, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
We present data on SNP haplogroups and STR haplotypes of the Y-chromosome in main Yakut ethno-local populations. Clusters of STR haplotypes and median networks of principal haplogroup N3a2 (N-M1982) indicate three lines: N-M1983, N-M1933, and N-Y25011. The first one, widely distributed throughout Yakutia and present in one half of Yakut males, marks the putative descendants of Elley, the legendary progenitor of the Yakuts. Line N-M1933 is found where descendants of another legendary progenitor, Omogoy, live. The N-Y25011 line is frequent in the Vilyuy basin, where the Yakuts had migrated from the Middle Lena in the 1600s. The predominance of lines N-M1983 and N-Y25011 is less marked in the northeastern part of this region than in the southwestern one. The frequency of haplogroup N3a2 drops to 70 % in the Yakuts of the northeastern Vilyuy basin, northeastern Yakutia, and northeastern Khabarovsk Territory. The estimated time to the most recent common ancestor of Yakuts, marked by the N3a2 haplogroup, 1200 ± 480 years, shows a fair agreement with aDNA data. Samples of the Yakuts from Yakutia and the Okhotsk coast and of Sakha-speaking Evenki reveal a compact “Yakut” core area in the multidimensional genetic space of the Y-gene pools of Siberia and the Far East. This core is marked by an elevated frequency (68-95 %) of the N3a2 haplogroup, which is rare (0-21 %) in other populations of Siberia (Dolgans, Nanais, Negidals, Nivkhs, Tuvans, Ulchi, Evenki, and Evens). Regional Y-chromosome profiles are consistent with historical data regarding Yakut origins and legends.
Keywords: Gene pool, Yakuts, Y-chromosome, haplogroups, STR haplotypes, median networks
