The Y chromosome R1A1A7 (M458) haplogroup of modern Belarusians and migrations of ancestors of Slavs on Belarus' territory

Abstract

A study of the R1a1a7 (M458) haplogroup in ethnic Belarusians from six historical-ethnographic regions demonstrated that its frequency is 14.5%. A higher concentration of the derived G allele carriers of the Y chromosome M458 marker was detected in the Pripiat River and Neman River basins (that is, in the south and in the west of Belarus). An expansion of the R1a1a7 (M458) haplogroup on the territory of modern Belarus was most probably associated with the spread of agriculture in Eastern Europe. The data obtained indicate also a possibility of a later wave of migration (for example, Polabian Slavs) from the interfluve of the Elbe and Oder Rivers to the Neman River Basin on the border of the First and Second Millennia. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.