European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication 1 July 2015; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.138
Shared language, diverging genetic histories: high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variability in Calabrian and Sicilian Arbereshe
EJHGOpen
Stefania Sarno1, Sergio Tofanelli2, Sara De Fanti1, Andrea Quagliariello1, Eugenio Bortolini1, Gianmarco Ferri3, Paolo Anagnostou4,5, Francesca Brisighelli6,7, Cristian Capelli6, Giuseppe Tagarelli8, Luca Sineo9, Donata Luiselli1, Alessio Boattini1 and Davide Pettener1
1Laboratorio di Antropologia Molecolare, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italia
2Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italia
3Dipartimento di Medicina Diagnostica, Clinica e di Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italia
4Dipartimento Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italia
5Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, Roma, Italia
6Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
7Sezione di medicina Legale—Istituto di Sanità Pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia
8Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche CNR, Mangone (CS), Italia
9Dipartimento Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italia
Correspondence: Dr A Boattini, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Bologna, Via Selmi 3, Bologna, 40126, Italy. Tel: +39 051 2094191; Fax: +390512094286; E-mail: alessio.boattini2@unibo.it
Received 19 December 2014; Revised 2 April 2015; Accepted 14 April 2015
Advance online publication 1 July 2015
Abstract
The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investigated. In the present study we address the genetic history of Arbereshe people by combining highly resolved analyses of Y-chromosome lineages and extensive computer simulations. A large set of slow- and fast-evolving molecular markers was typed in different Arbereshe communities from Sicily and Southern Italy (Calabria), as well as in both the putative Balkan source and Italian sink populations. Our results revealed that the considered Arbereshe groups, despite speaking closely related languages and sharing common cultural features, actually experienced diverging genetic histories. The estimated proportions of genetic admixture confirm the tight relationship of Calabrian Arbereshe with modern Albanian populations, in accordance with linguistic hypotheses. On the other hand, population stratification and/or an increased permeability of linguistic and geographic barriers may be hypothesized for Sicilian groups, to account for their partial similarity with Greek populations and their higher levels of local admixture. These processes ultimately resulted in the differential acquisition or preservation of specific paternal lineages by the present-day Arbereshe communities.