Elisabetta Cilli, Stefania Sarno, Guido Alberto Gnecchi Ruscone, Patrizia Serventi, Sara De Fanti, Paolo Delaini, Paolo Ognibene, Gian Pietro Basello, Gloria Ravegnini, Sabrina Angelini, Gianmarco Ferri, Davide Gentilini, Anna Maria Di Blasio, Susi Pelotti, Davide Pettener, Marco Sazzini, Antonio Panaino, Donata Luiselli, Giorgio Gruppioni
OBJECTIVES: The Yaghnobis are an ethno-linguistic minority historically settled along the Yaghnob River in the Upper-Zarafshan Valley in Tajikistan. They speak a language of Old Sogdian origin, which is the only present-day witness of the Lingua Franca used along the Silk Road in Late Antiquity. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the genetic history of this community in order to shed light on its isolation and genetic ancestry within the Euro-Asiatic context. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 DNA samples were collected in the Yaghnob and Matcha Valleys during several expeditions and their mitochondrial, Y-chromosome and autosomal genome-wide variation were compared with that from a large set of modern and ancient Euro-Asiatic samples...
January 29, 2019: American Journal of Physical Anthropology