Component Composition of the Indigenous Ethnos Gene Pool of Dagestan

A component analysis of the gene pool composition of the indigenous ethnic groups of Dagestan, as well as other ethnic groups of the North Caucasus and Central Asia, was carried out based on wide-genome genotyping of SNP markers on the high-density DNA microarrays Infinium Multi-Ethnic Global-8. The analysis of the genotypic data array of ethnic populations of the above-mentioned regions was implemented in the Admixture algorithm (K = 12). Despite the fact that in ethno-linguistic terms, the Mingrelians belong to the people of the Kartvelian language family, the Abkhazians, Adyghe, and Circassians belong to the group of ethnic groups of the Abkhaz–Adyghe languages. The Ossetians are an Iranian-speaking ethnic group, and the Karachais and Balkars represent the Turkic group of peoples of the North Caucasus. All of the ethnic groups listed have a spectrum of the same ancestral components, moreover, in comparable proportions. The Ingush and Chechens, being representatives of the Nakh group of the Nakh–Dagestani language family, demonstrate one common ancestral component with a high degree of representation, emphasizing the isolated genetic history of the formation of their gene pool. The Karanogais of Dagestan and the Nogais of Karachai-Cherkessia, in terms of the spectrum and frequency of representation of ancestral components, indicate a commonality with Central Asian ethnic groups, such as the Kazakhs and Uzbeks. The ethnic groups of Dagestan demonstrate a unique picture of diversity in both the composition and frequency of occurrence of ancestral components in the structure of their autosomal gene pool. This emphasizes not only the history of their formation, isolated from other peoples of the North Caucasus, but also the long-isolated genetic history of each indigenous ethnic group. This study is conducted within the framework of fundamental areas of human population and evolutionary genetics, identifying ethnospecific features of the structure of genomes and population gene pools of modern human populations and reconstructing ancient migrations and population expansion, as well as the evolution of gene pools and mechanisms of genetic adaptation.