2002/01/01 by Virpi H. Laitinen, Päivi Lahermo, Pertti Sistonen +1 · 36 citations
Arts and Humanities · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Allele #Biology #Demography #Estonian #Evolutionary biology #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Forensic and Genetic Research #Founder effect #Gene #Genetic Associations and Epidemiology #Genetic diversity #Genetics #Haplogroup #Haplotype #Latvian #Linguistics #Lithuanian #Norwegian #Population #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1159/000057985
published in Human Heredity 53(2), 68-78 (Karger Publishers)
openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the genetic relationships between Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian men by studying Y-chromosomal variation in these people. METHODS: The allelic status of five deep-rooted marker loci (YAP, Tat, M9, 92R7 and SRY-1532) was determined for 346 Baltic males. On the basis of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotypes, Y chromosomes were divided into six haplogroups, and the Baltic haplogroup distribution compared with that in 7 European reference populations. Haplogroup frequencies, diversities and genetic distances (F(ST) values) were calculated. The relationships between populations were further illustrated using Mantel test, neighbor-joining tree and principal-component map. RESULTS: We found the Indo-European-speaking Latvians and Lithuanians to be genetically very similar to the Finno-Ugric-speaking Estonians. When compared to the reference populations, Baltic males were most closely related to the Finno-Ugric-speaking Mari, followed by their Finnish and Slavonic neighbors. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic similarity existing between Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian men suggests that they originate from the same male founder population. Since the Baltic Y-chromosomal haplogroup distribution more closely resembles that of Finno-Ugric than Indo-European-speaking populations, we propose a hypothesis that Baltic males share a common Finno-Ugric ancestry.