Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Santariškiu St. 2, LT-08661 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Fundamentals Sciences, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio Al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Genes (Basel). 2021 Oct 28;12(11):1730. doi: 10.3390/genes12111730.
There are still several unanswered questions regarding about ancient events in the Lithuanian population. The Lithuanians, as the subject of this study, are of great interest as they represent a partially isolated population maintaining an ancient genetic composition and show genetic uniqueness in European comparisons. To elucidate the genetic relationships between the Lithuania and North-Eastern European and West Siberian populations, we analyzed the population structure, effective population size, and recent positive selection from genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. We identified the close genetic proximity of Lithuanians to neighboring populations (Latvians, Estonians, Belarusians) and in part with West and South Slavs (Poles, Slovaks, and Slovenians), however, with particular genetic distinctiveness. The estimated long-term values ranged from ~5900 in the Estonian population to ~2400 in the South Russian population. The divergence times between the Lithuanian and study populations ranged from 240 to 12,871 YBP. We also found evidence of selection in 24 regions, 21 of which have not been discovered in previous analyses of selection. Undoubtedly, the genetic diversity analysis of geographically specific regions may provide new insights into microevolutionary processes affecting local human populations.
关于立陶宛人群中的古代事件，仍有几个悬而未决的问题。作为本研究的主题，立陶宛人非常有趣，因为他们代表了一个部分隔离的人群，保持着古老的遗传组成，并在欧洲比较中表现出遗传独特性。为了阐明立陶宛与东北欧和西西伯利亚人群之间的遗传关系，我们分析了来自全基因组单核苷酸多态性（SNP）数据的人口结构、有效人口规模和近期正选择。我们发现立陶宛人与邻近人群（拉脱维亚人、爱沙尼亚人、白俄罗斯人）密切相关，部分与西斯拉夫人和南斯拉夫人（波兰人、斯洛伐克人和斯洛文尼亚人）有关，但具有特殊的遗传独特性。估计的长期值范围从爱沙尼亚人口的5900 到俄罗斯南部人口的2400。立陶宛人与研究人群之间的分化时间范围从 240 到 12871 YBP。我们还发现了 24 个区域存在选择的证据，其中 21 个在以前的选择分析中没有发现。毫无疑问，对特定地理区域的遗传多样性分析可能为影响当地人群的微观进化过程提供新的见解。
