First data on mitochondrial DNA diversity in the Basandai culture population (based on materials from the Tashara-Karyer-2, Tashara-1, Tashara-14 burial grounds)

The article provides first results of a genetic composition study (at the level of diversity of mitochondrial DNA variants) of the Basandai culture population (the High Middle Ages) from the Tashara-Karyev-2, Tashara-1, Tashara-14 burial grounds located in the Novosibirsk Ob region (Moshkovsky District, Novosibirsk Region). A series of 24 samples/individuals was studied. Data on the structure of the mitochondrial DNA variant were obtained for 19 samples, and the phylogenetic position was ascertained for 18 samples. A total of 13 lineages belonging to the Western Eurasian (J1b1a1, R0a, T2, U1a, U4) and Eastern Eurasian (A, A8, C4a2a1, C5b1, F1b, N9a) mtDNA haplogroups were identified. The analysis of distribution features of the identified mtDNA lineages, many of which were shown to be phylogeographically meaningful, was carried out. The results indicate the important role of components of southern origin in the formation of the mitochondrial DNA gene pool of the considered local part of the Basandai population. Two vectors of genetic connections of the population were preliminarily established: southeastern and southwestern. The results correlate with the hypothesis that the Basandai culture was formed in a more southern part of the Ob region (forest-steppe Altai) and then spread to the Novosibirsk and Tomsk Ob regions. No unambiguous evidence of participation of components of the northern (taiga) origin in the formation of the gene pool of Basandai carriers were obtained at this stage. Further research prospects are related to obtaining data at the level of the mitochondrial DNA diversity for other local-territorial groups of the Basandai population (both in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk Ob region), with the analysis of the male gene pool, as well as conducting a detailed comparative analysis with relatively synchronous (cultures of the Srostkin circle) and previous (for example, carriers of the Upper Ob culture) populations of the region when constructing a representative diachronic paleogenetic model of the Western Siberian medieval populations.