An ancient Mediterranean melting pot: investigating the uniparental genetic structure and population history of sicily and southern Italy.

ABSTRACT: Due to their strategic geographic location between three different continents, Sicily and Southern Italy have long represented a major Mediterranean crossroad where different peoples and cultures came together over time. However, its multi-layered history of migration pathways and cultural exchanges, has made the reconstruction of its genetic history and population structure extremely controversial and widely debated. To address this debate, we surveyed the genetic variability of 326 accurately selected individuals from 8 different provinces of Sicily and Southern Italy, through a comprehensive evaluation of both Y-chromosome and mtDNA genomes. The main goal was to investigate the structuring of maternal and paternal genetic pools within Sicily and Southern Italy, and to examine their degr

SUBMITTER: Sarno S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4005757 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature