Early DNA Lineages from Finland Shed Light on the Diverse Origins of the Contemporary Population

Credit: Stanislav Belskiy

“All of the above originally independent lineages remain common in Finland to this day. This indicates that the studied Iron Age populations have had an impact on the gene pool of contemporary Finns,” says doctoral student Sanni Översti from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.

The researchers posit that the differences found in the Iron Age populations of western and eastern Finland are opposite to those found in today’s Finns: the lineages associated with ancient farmers were more common in the east, while the lineages inherited from hunter-gatherers were more prevalent in the west. Farmer populations arriving in Finland not only from the west and south but also from the east provides a potential explanation for this.

Resarch findings previously published by the SUGRIGE-project:
An­cient DNA shows the Sámi and Finns share identical Siberian genes

SUGRIGE project
The study was carried out under SUGRIGE, a project focused on Finno-Ugric ancient genes, at the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku.The study was funded, among others, by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, the Kone Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the Academy of Finland.

Contacts and sources:
Sanni Över­stim Päivi Onkamo
University of Helsinki

Citation: Human mitochondrial DNA lineages in Iron-Age Fennoscandia suggest incipient admixture and eastern introduction of farming-related maternal ancestry (2019).
Sanni Översti, Kerttu Majander, Elina Salmela, Kati Salo, Laura Arppe, Stanislav Belskiy, Heli Etu-Sihvola, Ville Laakso, Esa Mikkola, Saskia Pfrengle, Mikko Putkonen, Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen, Katja Vuoristo, Anna Wessman, Antti Sajantila, Markku Oinonen, Wolfgang Haak, Verena J. Schuenemann, Johannes Krause, Jukka U. Palo, Päivi Onkamo.  Scientific Reports, DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-51045-8