The genetic history of Russian old settlers of polar northeastern Siberia

The mtDNA variation has been studied in representatives of the Russkoe Ust'e (n = 30), Kolyma (n = 31), and Markovo (n = 26) ethnic subgroups originating from Russian military men, hunters, and fishers who married local Yukaghir women and settled at the Arctic Ocean coast and on the Anadyr' River more than 350 years ago. The mtDNA haplotypes characteristic of indigenous Siberian peoples have been demonstrated to form the basis of the mitochondrial gene pool of Russian old settlers of the region. Only one of 30 identified haplotypes belonging to 11 haplogroups (H2a) is characteristic of European populations. The C and D haplogroups are the most diverse. The analysis has revealed the characteristics of the population structure of the Russian old settlers and allowed them to be interpreted in terms of recent historical and environmental processes.