Study of the Karachay Population Based on the Analysis of Ten Polymorphic DNA Loci

The genetic structure of Karachay population has been studied on the basis of analysis of ten autosomal DNA markers (diallelic and multiallelic) of the nuclear genome: CCR5 ∆ 32 , ID / АСЕ , D7S23 ( KM19 ), STR / THOI , STR / FABP2 , STR / IVS6aGATT ( CFTR ), VNTR / PAH , VNTR / DAT1 , VNTR / NOS3 , VNTR/APOB . The total number of the sample comprises 485 individuals who are residents of four Karachay regions: Karachaevsky, Prikubansky, Malokarachayevsky, Ust-Dzhegutinsky, and the city of Cherkessk, the capital of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Analysis of allele’s frequency of autosomal DNA markers in Karachay geographic subgroups shows considerable genetic differentiation between them. The highest level of genetic diversity for Karachay people on the diallelic system is set at the locus ID / АСЕ , H obs = 0.513, and on the multiallelic system is at the locus STR / THOI , H obs = 0.792. The average value of the observed heterozygosity per locus is 0.466, varying from 0.441 in Ust-Dzhegutinsky region to 0.503 in Cherkessk. The level of genetic differences between Karachay groups ( F ST = 0.007) is inside the variance defined in the previously studied peoples: Mari ( F ST = 0.0024), Udmurt ( F ST = 0.0048), Chuvash ( F ST = 0.006), Tatars ( F ST = 0.0075), and Bashkir ( F ST = 0.008).