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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-06 > 1180929440


From: ellen Levy <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] PubMed abstract: mtDNA in Franch
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:57:20 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <00e501c7a636$b5423b90$640fa8c0@Villandra2>


Dora & List:

Was the list able to locate a copy of this paper? I
have a hard copy of this article and can provide an
overview of the findings.

Basically, the authors found that French mtDNA
variation, as far as classical haplogroup frequencies
are concerned, does not differ from neighboring
countries, nor Europe in general. Within France, the
outliers are the Basque (from the former region of
Bearn) and the region of Provence, although the later
is probably due to small sample size.

While both Spanish and French Basque have high
frequencies of haplo. H (58%), they having opposing
frequencies of U4 (none in Spanish Basque, but 6% in
French Basque) and U5 (12% in Spanish Basque vs. 2.5%
in French Basque, specified as U5b2). U4 is a
surprising find in French Basque, as it is mainly
found among Eastern European and West Siberian groups.
Intriguing, J is found in French Basque (17%) while
not much if found in Spanish Basque (2.5%). They
specifically found the J1c haplotype: 069-126-300,
found mainly in the Middle East and is linked to the
Neolithic expansion. T1 is found only in French
Basques, but in low frequency (3.7%).

There is also a break-down of various populations from
Brittany, which I provide if anyone has an interest.

The findings suggested that the pattern observed in
the mtDNA pool of the French Basques could be
explained by genetic drift and cultural isolation in a
relatively small long-term population size. Also,
Spanish and French Basque have been affected from
admixture with different sources. Meanwhile, the
overall high frequency of autosomal recessive
coagulation factor deficiencies in French Basque
groups argue in favor of genetic drift acting on this
population. The cultural factor could have
contributed to the maintenance of differences between
small population units, where territories are
organized on the basis of villages, localized in
valleys. Taken together, the findings suggest that
the "Basques" are a strongly sub-divided group and
supports the conclusion that French and Spanish Basque
have been effectively isolated from each other for a
long enough period to allow random genetic drift to
differentiate them. Also, the study shows that the
maternal lineages present in the Basque cannot be
treated as representative of the Paleolithic mtDNA
pool of Europeans, as the presence of Hgs T1 and J
reveal Neolithic Middle Eastern contributions.
Rather, it is a mosaic of focal high and lows,
generated by gene flows and random drift in
semi-isolated populations.


Ellen Coffman





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