Ethnogenesis Reconstruction in the Population of South Siberia and Tuva Using Data on N-M178 and O-M175 Polymorphisms

ABSTRACT: Some important aspects of the history of ethnogenesis in South Siberia have been reconstructed using data on two Y-haplogroups: N-M178 (n = 113) and O-M175 (n = 24). In Tuvans, who make up two-thirds of the indigenous South Siberian population, these haplogroups constitute 20% of the gene pool, and their branches form well discriminated ethno-specific clusters within the phylogenetic network of 37 Y-STR marker haplotypes. N-Y24317(xB499) is thought to have arrived in Tuva from Mongolia or Northwest China during the Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. According to our hypothesis, the spread of N-Y16319(xY16223) and N-Y16223(xZ35328, F2288) with DYS385 = 11,11 is linked to the development of the Ulug-Khem culture in Tuva around 2100 YBP as a result of the growth and expansion of the Xiongnu. Three branches (N-Z35328, N-F2288, N-Y16223(xZ35328, F2288) with DYS385 = 11,13) widespread among the Turkic-Mongolian populations are rare in Tuvans. The arrival of these haplogroups, as well as O-M175, in Tuva is associated with the Medieval Mongol expansion. However, the Turkic-Mongolian contribution of O-M175 to the Tuvan gene pool is insignificant: the ancestors of most Tuvan lineages might have been the Han forcibly moved by the Yuan Empire to the settlements of craftsmen and farmers located in what is now the territory of modern Tuva.