FEATURES OF THE GENE POOL OF THE TUVINIAN ETHNOS BASED ON THE STUDY OF BLOOD GROUP ANTIGENS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

The indigenous population of the Tuva Republic is characterized by a complex multi-component ethnogenesis, which involved ancient Europoid, northern Samoyedic and Keto-speaking tribes, as well as Turkic and Mongolian-speaking natives of Central Asia. The aim of the study was description of the Tuvinians gene pool in comparison with the modern Siberian populations. Materials and methods. The alleles and haplotypes frequencies of blood groups AB0, MN, Rhesus and Kell in the Kyzyl indigenous population sample (N=502) were determined using the traditional direct hemagglutination method. Results. The high frequency (0.033) of the A2 allele of the AB0 system characterizing the population of Europoid origin was shown. The ratio of the alleles M (0.621) and N (0.379) of the MN system corresponded to the populations of Yakuts, Kazakhs and Mongols. Rhesus Tuvinians showed both Mongoloid features - high frequency cDE (0.318) and rhesus-negative haplotype cde and Cde, wich characteristic Europoid populations (total frequency 0.074) on frequencies haplotype systems. The marker of "Europoid" allele K of system Kell was revealed with frequency 0,019. The Tuvinians was clustered with Turkic populations of South Altaians and Yakuts on the map of genetic distances, while the Samoyedic group of Nganasans, Forest and Tundra Nenets formed a separate cluster. The clusters of northern Khanty, Komi-Zyryans and Russians Siberia, including the Old Believers, are also located in a separate cluster. It is shown that alleles and haplotypes of systems MN, Rhesus and Kell, A2 and B on system AB0 maked the greatest contribution to differentiation of populations. Conclusion. The present study shown that the Tuvinians of Kyzyl are genetically close to the Yakuts and South Altaians, and the combination of Europoid and Mongoloid genetic markers reflects their complex ethnic history.