The genetic structure of the Slovak population revealed by Y-chromosome polymorphisms

Abstract

Historic and linguistic records indicate that Slovaks belong to the Slavic population. We performed a population genetic study on 250 unrelated Slovak males, who were typed for 12 Y-short tandem repeats (STRs) (DYS391, DYS389I, DYS439, DYS389II, DYS438, DYS437, DYS19, DYS392, DYS393, DYS390, DYS385a/b). The corresponding Y-haplogroups were deduced using Whit Athey’s Haplogroup Predictor. The most common haplogroup R1a is presented by 38% of individuals. The next two haplogroups (I2a and R1b) are presented at frequencies higher than 10%, 9 haplogroups range from 1 to 10% and 3 haplogroups are presented at frequencies lower than 1%. The obtained results show that a significant majority of the Slovak paternal gene pool belongs to Eastern European Y-lineages and indicate the Slavic origin. Pairwise analysis confirmed that our population is more similar to the surrounding populations, and less similar to those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.