The genetic structure of the Slovak population revealed by Y-chromosome polymorphisms

Abstract

Historic and linguistic records indicate that Slovaks belong to the Slavic population. We performed a population genetic study on 250 unrelated Slovak males, who were typed for 12 Y-short tandem repeats (STRs) (DYS391, DYS389I, DYS439, DYS389II, DYS438, DYS437, DYS19, DYS392, DYS393, DYS390, DYS385a/b). The corresponding Y-haplogroups were deduced using Whit Athey's Haplogroup Predictor. The most common haplogroup R1a is presented by 38% of individuals. The next two haplogroups (I2a and R1b) are presented at frequencies higher than 10%, 9 haplogroups range from 1 to 10% and 3 haplogroups are presented at frequencies lower than 1%. The obtained results show that a significant majority of the Slovak paternal gene pool belongs to Eastern European Ylineages and indicate the Slavic origin. Pairwise analysis confirmed that our population is more similar to the surrounding populations, and less similar to those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. © 2009 The Anthropological Society of Nippon.