Biology subjects

Mende, B. G.

Publications and source records attributed to Mende, B. G..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Inner Asian maternal genetic origin of the Avar period nomadic elite in the 7th century AD Carpathian Basin

After 568 AD the nomadic Avars settled in the Carpathian Basin and founded their empire, which was an important force in Central Europe until the beginning of the 9th century AD. The Avar elite was probably of Inner Asian origin; its identification with the Rourans (who ruled the region of todays Mongolia and North China in the 4th-6th centuries AD) is widely accepted in the historical research.\n\nHere, we study the whole mitochondrial genomes of twenty-three 7th century and two 8th century AD individuals from a well-characterised Avar elite group of burials excavated in Hungary. Most of them were buried with high value prestige artefacts and their skulls showed Mongoloid morphological traits.\n\nThe majority (64%) of the studied samples mitochondrial DNA variability belongs to Asian haplogroups (C, D, F, M, R, Y and Z). This Avar elite group shows affinities to several ancient and modern Inner Asian populations.\n\nThe genetic results verify the historical thesis on the Inner Asian origin of the Avar elite, as not only a military retinue consisting of armed men, but an endogamous group of families migrated. This correlates well with records on historical nomadic societies where maternal lineages were as important as paternal descent.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2018

A genetic perspective on Longobard-Era migrations

From the first century AD, Europe has been interested by population movements, commonly known as Barbarian migrations. Among these processes, the one involving the Longobard culture interested a vast region, but its dynamics and demographic impact remains largely unknown. Here we report 87 new complete mitochondrial sequences coming from nine early-medieval cemeteries located along the area interested by the Longobard migration (Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy). From the same locations, we sampled necropolises characterized by cultural markers associated with the Longobard culture (LC) and coeval burials where no such markers were found (NLC). Population genetics analysis and ABC modeling highlighted a similarity between LC individuals, as reflected by a certain degree of genetic continuity between these groups, that reached 70% among Hungary and Italy. Models postulating a contact between LC and NLC communities received also high support, indicating a complex dynamics of admixture in medieval Europe.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2017

Parallel ancient genomic transects reveal complex population history of early European farmers

Ancient DNA studies have established that European Neolithic populations were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and admixture during the Neolithic period. Using the highest-resolution genome-wide ancient DNA data set assembled to date--a total of 177 samples, 127 newly reported here, from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Hungary (6000-2900 BCE, n = 98), Germany (5500-3000 BCE, n = 42), and Spain (5500-2200 BCE, n = 37)--we investigate the population dynamics of Neolithization across Europe. We find that genetic diversity was shaped predominantly by local processes, with varied sources and proportions of hunter-gatherer ances try among the three regions and through time. Admixture between groups with different ancestry profiles was pervasive and resulted in observable population transformation across almost all cultural transitions. Our results shed new light on the ways that gene flow reshaped European populations throughout the Neolithic period and demonstrate the potential of time-series-based sampling and modeling approaches to elucidate multiple dimensions of historical population interactions.

genetics↗