Hla Alleles and Haplotypes in Iran Tabriz Azeris Population: Genes and Languages Do Not Correlate Publisher Pubmed



Arnaizvillena A¹ ; Palaciogruber J¹ ; Amirzargar A² ; Vaqueroyuste C¹ ; Molinaalejandre M¹ ; Sanchezorta A¹ ; Heras A¹ ; Nikbin B² ; Suareztrujillo F¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Human Immunology Published:2022

Abstract

Azeri people are at present day mainly living in an area which comprises North (Azerbaijan) and South (Azeri Iran provinces) parts, living the biggest population in Azeri Iran provinces with about 17–20 million people. They were studied HLA-A, -B, -DRB1 and -DQB1 allele and extended haplotype frequencies in unrelated Iranian Tabriz Azeris from a rural area close to Tabriz City. The HLA extended haplotypes with highest frequencies are: 1) HLA- A*24:02-B*35:01-DRB1*11:01-DQB1*03:01, shared with Mediterraneans and southern Russians (Chuvash, which also show Mediterranean characters); and 2) HLA-A*01:02-B*08:01-DRB1*03:01-DQB1*02:01, found also in Chuvash and other Azeri samples from Tabriz. Nei’s DA HLA-DRB1 genetic distances, HLA-DRB1 Neighbour-Joining dendrogram and Vista analyses show that population with closest distance is Kurdish, followed by Iranian Gorgan and Southern Russia/ North Caucasus Chuvash; probably these latter groups and Azeris were populating North Mesopotamia/ Caucasus Mts. since prehistoric times. Kurds (in Iraq and Iran) do not speak Turk while Azeris do: they are both genetically close, but they are not genetically close to present day Anatolia (Turkey) Turks who also speak Turk language and show a typical Mediterranean HLA profile. In summary, Azeri population studies show examples that genes and languages do not correlate, contradicting the postulate asserted by others. © 2022 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics