Mitochondrial DNA variability in Russians and Ukrainians: Implication to the origin of the Eastern Slavs

In order to investigate the origin of the Eastern Slavs. mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation was examined in Russians and Ukrainians by hyper variable segment I (HVS I) sequencing and restriction analysis of the haplo group-specific sites. No significant differences were found for Russians an d Ukrainians when compared to other Europeans - in fact, they fall within t he range of gene diversity seen throughout Europe and exhibit the unimodal pattern of pairwise sequence differences. Moreover, HVS I sequences in the Russians and Ukrainians are similar or identical to those found in eastern and western European populations. Despite the small genetic distances betwe en Europeans, phylogenetic analysis reveals a considerable heterogeneity of Eastern Slavonic populations - they do not cluster together onto a phyloge netic tree. Analysis of distribution of rare HVS I types shared between pop ulations of Eastern Slavs and other West Eurasians has shown that Russians share rare haplotypes mainly with Germans and Finno-Ugric populations. Of t hese, subhaplogroup H1 sequence types, which are defined by different combi nations of nucleotides 16192T, 16294T, 16304C, 16311C and 16320T, are found predominantly in common between Russians and German-speaking populations. The data obtained allow us to conclude that the Slavonic migrations in earl y Middle Ages from their putative homeland in central Europe to the east of Europe were accompanied mostly by the same mtDNA types characteristic for the pre-Slavonic populations of eastern Europe.