Genetic features of ancient West Siberian people of the Middle Ages, revealed by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup analysis

In order to investigate the genetic features of ancient West Siberian people of the Middle Ages, we studied ancient DNA from bone remains excavated from two archeological sites in West Siberia: Saigatinsky 6 (eighth to eleventh centuries) and Zeleny Yar (thirteenth century). Polymerase chain reaction amplification and nucleotide sequencing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) succeeded for 9 of 67 specimens examined, and the sequences were assigned to mtDNA haplogroups B4, C4, G2, H and U. This distribution pattern of mtDNA haplogroups in medieval West Siberian people was similar to those previously reported in modern populations living in West Siberia, such as the Mansi, Ket and Nganasan. Exact tests of population differentiation showed no significant differences between the medieval people and modern populations in West Siberia. The findings suggest that some medieval West Siberian people analyzed in the present study are included in direct ancestral lineages of modern populations native to West Siberia.