STUDY OF 15 PROTEIN POLYMORPHISMS IN A SAMPLE OF THE TURKISH POPULATION

Anatolia, because of its geographic position and its use as an area of settlement, was also a land of transit that accommodated a succession of populations. The last important invasion occurred in the Middle Ag es with the arrival of the Turks, an Altaic-speaking nomadic populatio n descended from the Oguz tribes and originating in Mongolia. Although the Turks imposed their culture, their genetic contribution seems to have been modest. To validate this hypothesis, we studied the genetic structure of the Turkish population by examining 15 genetic markers in a sample of 93 subjects. The allele frequencies observed were HP1 = 0.240; GLO11 = 0.344, ESD*2 = 0.134, GC*1S = 0.613, GC*1F = 0.129, PG M12S = 0.322, PGM1*2F = 0.041, PGM1*1F = 0.027, F13B*1 = 0.762, F13B* 2 = 0.101, ORM1S = 0.327, AHSG*2 = 0.181, C6*B = 0.239, C7*1 = 0.983, APOC21 = 1.0, APOE*3 = 0.868, APOE*2 = 0.063, BF*F = 0.258, BF*S07 = 0.017, BFSQ0 = 0.011, C4A*Q0 = 0.145, C4A*2 = 0.070, C4A*5 = 0.012, C4A6 = 0.023, C4B*Q0 = 0.101, C4B*2 = 0.048, C4B*3 = 0.005, and C4B*1 1 = 0.005. The present Turkish population was compared to other Europe an, Middle Eastern, and North African populations by means of correspo ndence analysis. Turks cluster with Turkomans, who share the ancient T urks' derivation from the Oguz tribe. Moreover, Turks clearly belong t o European groups and resemble the populations of neighboring countrie s. Therefore the present data support the hypothesis that the ancient Turkish tribes, who started to enter Anatolia 1000 years ago, contribu ted little to the gene pool of the preexisting Anatolian populations. Alternatively, if the genetic structure of the invading Turks resemble d that of the ancient Anatolians, it will be impossible to find traces of their admixture with the autochthonous inhabitants of Anatolia. Ho wever, further analysis of other samples from Turkey and from populati ons living in the homelands of the Turkish tribes, namely, the eastern area of the Caspian Sea and Mongolia, is needed.