Abstract
Located at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East, the Armenian Highland served as a transition corridor for major waves of prehistoric and historic migrations. The genetic history of Armenians as an indigenous population of the region attracts keen scientific interest to resolve the puzzle of ancient Middle Eastern populations’ expansion and the spread of Indo-European languages. Here, we review the current state of studies on the genetic structure of both modern and ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highland and outline further steps to be fulfilled in this regard.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allentoft ME, Sikora M, Sjögren KG et al (2015) Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia. Nature 522:167–172
Behar DM, Yunusbayev B, Metspalu M et al (2010) The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people. Nature 466:238–242
Bouckaert R, Lemey P, Dunn M et al (2012) Mapping the origins and expansion of the Indo-European language family. Science 337:957–960
Chukhryaeva M, Dibirova Kh, Yepiskoposyan L et al (2015) Genofond donskikh armyan: stoletiya v diaspore. Proceedings of the II International Conference “Armyane yuga Rossii: Istoriya, kul’tura, obschee buduschee”. Rostov-on-Don, 26–28 May 2015, pp. 81–84 (in Russian)
Dolukhanov P, Aslanyan S, Kolpakov E et al (2004) Prehistoric sites in Northern Armenia. Antiquity (http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/dolukhanov301/). Accessed 2 June 2016
Haber M, Mezzavilla M, Xue Y et al (2016) Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations. Eur J Hum Genet 24:931–936
Harutyunyan A, Khudoyan A, Yepiskoposyan L (2009) Patrilocality and recent migrations have little impact on shaping patterns of genetic structure of the Armenian population. Genetica 45:1125–1131
Hellenthal G, Busby GB, Band G et al (2014) A genetic atlas of human admixture history. Science 343:747–751
Herrera KJ, Lowery RK, Hadden L et al (2012) Neolithic patrilineal signals indicate that the Armenian plateau was repopulated by agriculturalists. Eur J Hum Genet 20:313–320
Hovhannisyan A, Khachatryan Z, Haber M et al (2014) Different waves and directions of Neolithic migrations in the Armenian Highland. Investig Genet 5:15
Lang DM (1980) Armenia: cradle of civilization. Allen & Unwin, London, p 320
Margaryan A, Harutyunyan A, Khachatryan Z et al (2011) HLA allele and haplotype frequencies in the Armenian population: evidence of mediterranean origin. Int J Antropol 26:195–210
Nasidze I, Risch GM, Robichaux M et al (2001) Alu insertion polymorphisms and the genetic structure of human populations from the Caucasus. Eur J Hum Genet 9:267–272
Nasidze I, Ling EY, Quinque D et al (2004) Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome variation in the Caucasus. Ann Hum Genet 68(Pt 1):205–221
Schönberg A, Theunert C, Li M et al (2011) High-throughput sequencing of complete human mtDNA genomes from the Caucasus and West Asia: high diversity and demographic inferences. Eur J Hum Genet 19:988–994
Weale ME, Yepiskoposyan L, Jager RF et al (2001) Armenian Y chromosome haplotypes reveal strong regional structure within a single ethno-national group. Hum Genet 109:659–674
Yunusbayev B, Metspalu M, Järve M et al (2012) The Caucasus as an asymmetric semipermeable barrier to ancient human migrations. Mol Biol Evol 29:359–365
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Yepiskoposyan, L., Hovhannisyan, A. & Khachatryan, Z. Genetic Structure of the Armenian Population. Arch. Immunol. Ther. Exp. 64 (Suppl 1), 113–116 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-016-0431-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-016-0431-9