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Ethno-Anthropological and Genetic Study of the Yaghnobis: an Isolated Community in Central Asia

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Ethno-Anthropological and Genetic Study of the Yaghnobis: an Isolated Community in Central Asia doi: 10.4436/jass.89003 JASs Correspondence & Notes Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 89 (2011), pp. 189-194 Ethno-anthropological and genetic study of the Yaghnobis: an isolated community in Central Asia. A preliminary study Elisabetta Cilli, Paolo Delaini, Birgit Costazza, Laura Giacomello, Antonio Panaino & Giorgio Gruppioni Dipartimento di Storie e Metodi per la Conservazione dei Beni Culturali, Università di Bologna , Via degli Ariani 1, 48121 Ravenna, Italy e-mail: [email protected] The Yaghnob Valley (Fig. 1), situated in the still speaks a dialect variety of a dead language. Northern Tajikistan, represents an important, The Yaghnobi community, which welcomed us geographically isolated area that maintains a during our study, live in small villages built on genetic, linguistic, cultural and environmental outcrops at high altitude and are isolated eight heritage, unique to the world. The Yaghnobis months of the year due to snow. Yaghnobi vil- inhabit the vast mountains of this valley (2200 - lages are poor, pastoral communities that raise 2800 metres above sea-level) and live in relative, sheep and keep dogs as guardians and for herding geographical isolation due to the high moun- animals (Panaino, 2008). tains surrounding their homeland and the lack In the 1970’s, the Yaghnobi community of roads in the valley (it takes two days by mule, (3000 – 4000 people) was displaced by the Soviet or on foot, to cover the mule tracks that connect authorities and delocalised to a cotton-picking the last stretch of paved road at Marγib, suitable area (cotton is the most significant crop in the for vehicles, to the last Yaghnobi village). country) very far from their original settlement. They have been identified as descendants of This displacement, the change in their daily cus- the Sogdians, the ancient travelling merchants toms and child labour in the cotton fields caused of the Silk Route, who, according to local tra- a state of malnutrition and an outbreak of epi- ditions, took refuge in this valley after the Arab demic diseases. A few Yaghnobis (approximately invasion in the VIII Century AD and the fall of 300), returned to their original lands in 1977 the cities of Samarkand and Panjikent, but most and today it is estimated that Yaghnobis in the probably were already located in such a remote valley number in the order of 500 people, dis- area since earlier times, as the remarkable archae- persed throughout 16 villages (Delaini, 2008). ological structures found in the close Valley of At the beginning of the 1990s, the collapse Matcha demonstrate. The Silk Road represents of the old Soviet system of assistance left moun- the most important and famous trade route, that tain communities, such as the Yaghnobi, lacking played a pivotal role in the commerce and history in education, medical assistance (including a vac- of Asia for almost 3000 years. cination programme) and the sustenance of their The Yaghnobi people constitute a linguistic agricultural and sheep farming work. A fifteen- minority and speak an Eastern Iranian language year civil war resulted in keeping the community (a branch of the Indo-European family) called in a state of isolation, while the Tajikistan State “Yaghnobi”, that is mainly spoken but not writ- became one of the poorest countries in the world. ten and is closely related to the language of the The principal aims of the “Yaghnob Valley” ancient Sogdians. If we consider that the Sogdian Mission, organised by the University of Bologna language is, by now, documented only in manu- in collaboration with the IsIAO and the Italian scripts and archaeological testimonies we can Foreign Ministry, are to study and preserve the appreciate the importance of a population that ethno-linguistic and genetic heritage of the the JASs is published by the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia www.isita-org.com 190 Ethno-anthropology and genetics in Central Asia Fig. 1 - Yaghnob Valley in Tajikistan, topographic map. (July 97). In UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library, modified. Retrieved January 15, 2010 from http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/tajikistan_topographic_map Yaghnobis, along with the conservation of their mitochondrial DNA analysis has been conducted environment and historical traditions. Our and so, here, we present a preliminary preview of project is based not only on historical, anthro- these results. pological and linguistic research but also on sus- Buccal swabs together with anthropologic taining, supporting and facilitating the Yaghnobi and bio-demographic data were collected from community in rediscovering their traditions, 62 unrelated individuals during three expeditions giving education to their children and receiving (2007-2008-2009). Information on birthplace, basic medical assistance. parents and grandparents, and also, informed Within this context, we have focussed our consent were obtained from all the individuals attention on the genetic analysis of the Yaghnobi sampled. In order to include only Yaghnobi peo- people. The aim of the genetic analysis is to ple, all samples come from the most isolated vil- study the genetic legacy of Yaghnobis, to estab- lages in the valley. lish if they symbolise a genetic, other than a geo- DNA was extracted from all samples using a graphic and linguistic, isolation and also to study salting-out procedure (Miller et al., 1998) and the the relationship between the Yaghnobis and first hypervariable region (HVR1) of mitochon- their neighbours. In order to answer these ques- drial DNA was amplified with primers L15996 and tions, mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome H16401 (Vigilant et al., 1989). The same primers variation must be analysed. To date, only the were used to sequence the fragments amplified. E. Cilli et al. 191 Individuals with the ‘‘C-stretch’’ at the position Yaghnobi population is 4.36±2.20 and lies within 16189 were sequenced in each direction. Currently, the range of European samples (3.15 - 5.03; Comas 42 sequences have been obtained and analysed, et al., 1997), whereas Central Asian populations spanning nucleotide positions 16024 - 16383. presented higher haplotype diversities (5.91 - 6.64; In order to investigate the origins of the Comas et al., 1998). Tajima’s D was negative and it Yaghnobis and the relationships between the was not significantly different from zero. Yaghnobis and their neighbours, published Haplotype sharing analysis shows that mtDNA sequences were also included from Yaghnobis share 8 out of 19 haplotypes with Iranians (Arabs from Iran, Bakhtiari, Gilaki, other populations, whereas 11 haplotypes are Iranians from Isfahan, Iranians from Teheran exclusively found in Yaghnobi population. and Mazandarani), Turks, Kurds (Kurmanji Among the haplotypes shared, one is represented and Zazaki), Caucasians (Abkhazians, Avarians, by the Cambridge Reference Sequence, shared by Balkarians, Karachaians, Lezginians, North all the populations examined. With regard to the Ossetians and Rutulians) and Central Asian eight common haplotypes, the Yaghnobis shared populations (Kazakhs, Kirghiz from Sary-Tash, all these haplotypes with Iranians (in particular Kirghiz from Talas, Tajiks and Uzbeks) (Comas with Gilaki (4 haplotypes), Iranians from Isfahan et al., 1998, 2004; Nasidze et al., 2004a, 2004b, (4), Iranians fromTeheran (3), Mazandarani (3), 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; Derenko et al., 2007). Arabs from Iran (1) and Bakhtiari (1)). They also Haplotype number, haplotype diversity and share four haplotypes with Kurds (Kurmanji (4) Tajima’s D were calculated by DnaSP (Rozas & and Zazaki (3)), one haplotype with Turks and Rozas, 1995). The software package Arlequin 3.1 four haplotypes with Caucasians (Abkhazians (Excoffier et al., 2005) was run to estimate the (1), Avarians (4), Lezginians (1), North Ossetians Mean Number of Pairwise Differences (MNPD) (1) and Rutulians (1)). Moreover, the Yaghnobis and Fst indexes (10.000 permutations). Haplotype share four haplotypes with Central Asian popula- sharing analysis between populations was obtained tions (Tajiks (1), Uzbeks (2), Kirghiz from Talas by FaBox application (Villesen, 2007). The mul- (1) and Kazakhs (2)). It is important to highlight tidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis was per- that Yaghnobis share only one haplotype with formed by the software STATISTICA (StatSoft). other Tajiks. Network 4.1 (Bandelt et al., 1999) was run to Pairwise Fst comparisons indicate that estimate a median–joining network, using and the Yaghnobis are more similar to Kurds (Kurmanji same weights for all loci. and Zazaki, respectively Fst = 0.039, p = 0.000; Fst The population analysed showed a reduced = 0.040, p = 0.000) and also to Iranians (Gilaki, number of haplotypes (19) and low haplotype Iranians from Isfahan and Iranians fromTeheran, diversity (0.930±0.023), slightly lower with respect respectively Fst = 0.040, p = 0.000; Fst = 0.040, p to the values that emerged from other Central = 0.000; Fst = 0.043, p = 0.000). Respect to their Asian populations (0.984 - 0.995; Comas et al., neighbours, Yaghnobis showed closest affinities 1998), but similar to the lower limit of European with Uzbeks (Fst = 0.055, p = 0.002), than to variations (0.936 - 0.973; Comas et al., 1997) other Tajiks (Fst = 0.085, p = 0.000), Kirghiz from (these values are not significantly different from Sary-Tash and Kirghiz from Talas (respectively one another as calculated by t-test, P ≥ 0.05, two- Fst = 0.096, p = 0.000; Fst = 0.126, p = 0.000). tailed test). It is interesting to point out that the Moreover, the Yaghnobis appear significantly dif- value of haplotype diversity which emerged from ferent from Karachaians (Fst = 0.120, p = 0.000) the Yaghnobi samples is lower than other Tajiks and Balkarians (Fst = 0.109, p = 0.000). (0.995±0.006; Derenko et al., 2007), although the A MDS plot based on the pairwise Fst values difference between these values is also not signifi- was obtained (Fig. 2). Stress value was lower than cant (t-test, P ≥ 0.05, two-tailed test). The mean the critical stress value calculated by Sturrock & number of pairwise differences (MNPD) in the Rocha (2000).
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