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. 2024 Nov 25:15:1462736.
doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1462736. eCollection 2024.

Genetic evidence points to distinct paternal settlers of the Faroe Islands and Iceland

Allison E Mann #  1   2 , Eyðfinn Magnussen  3 , Christopher R Tillquist #  2
Affiliations

Genetic evidence points to distinct paternal settlers of the Faroe Islands and Iceland

Allison E Mann et al. Front Genet. .

Abstract

Introduction: The Faroe Islands are a small archipelago located in the North Atlantic likely colonized by a small group of founders sometime between 50 and 300 CE. Post colonization, the Faroese people have been largely isolated from admixture with mainland and other island populations in the region. As such, the initial founder effect and subsequent genetic drift are likely major contributors to the modern genetic diversity found among the Faroese.

Methods: In this study, we assess the utility of Y-chromosomal microsatellites to detect founder effect in the Faroe Islands through the construction of haplotype networks and a novel empirical method, mutational distance from modal haplotype histograms (MDM), for the visualization and evaluation of population bottlenecks.

Results: We compared samples from the Faroe Islands and Iceland to possible regional source populations and documented a loss of diversity associated with founder events. Additionally, within-haplogroup diversity statistics reveal lower haplotype diversity and richness within both the Faroe Islands and Iceland, consistent with a small founder population colonizing both regions. However, in the within haplogroup networks, the Faroe Islands are found within the larger set of potential source populations while Iceland is consistently found on isolated branches. Moreover, comparisons of within-haplogroup MDM histograms document a clear founder signal in the Faroes and Iceland, but the strength of this signal is haplogroup-dependent which may be indicative of more recent admixture or other demographic processes.

Discussion: The results of the current study and lack of conformity between Icelandic and Faroese haplotypes implies that the two populations were founded by different paternal gene pools and there is no detectable post-founder admixture between the two groups.

Keywords: Faroe Islands; North Atlantic; Y chromosome analysis; founder effect; microsatellies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Geographic location of the Faroe Islands and the three cities where the samples were collected.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Haplogroup frequencies of the most common haplogroups, R1a, R1b, and I1 and shared haplotypes within haplogroups across all populations. (A) The most common haplogroups detected in each population. (B) Shared haplotypes (C) Correspondence analysis of all haplotypes across haplogroups for each population.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Minimum spanning network and mutational distance histograms of all R1b individuals. Minimum spanning network in the center of figure represents all haplotypes assigned to haplogroup R1b across all populations in this study. Color of node indicates source population while size of node represents the number of individuals assigned to that node. Larger nodes have numbers representing the exact number of individuals for that node. Thickness and opacity of lines connecting nodes correspond to the number of mutational changes (Hamming distance) between connected haplotype nodes where thicker, darker lines indicate fewer changes between nodes. Mutational distance histograms (MDM) for each source population illustrate the mutational distance for each haplotype from a population-specific modal haplotype. Percentages indicate the total proportion of haplotypes within each population that are “neighbor haplotypes”, i.e., haplotypes with only one repeat difference from the modal haplotype.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Minimum spanning network and mutational distance histograms of all R1a individuals. Minimum spanning network in the center of figure represents all haplotypes assigned to haplogroup R1a across all populations in this study. See Figure 3 legend for full description of figure interpretation.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Minimum spanning network and mutational distance histograms of all I1 individuals. Minimum spanning network in the center of figure represents all haplotypes assigned to haplogroup I1 across all populations in this study. See Figure 3 legend for full description of figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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