The Basques in Europe: a genetic analysis.

Abstract

SUMMARY Our knowledge of genetic differentiation in human populations of Europe at present, with special emphasis on Basques and their Mediterranean neighbours, is presented and discussed. The preliminary results obtained by data from 15 genetic systems (ABO, RH, MNS, KELL, P1, HLA -A, HLA-B. GM, KM, BF, GC, GLO1, HP, TF, PI) and 65 alleles sampled from 52 ethnic groups are shown. Some tentative interpretations of the analysis are given: (a) Modern Basques are more closely related (in genetic terms) to European rather than non-European populations. (b) If genetic differentiation of modern Basques from the neighbouring Bearn sample occurred at the latest during the Romanization time, therefore it seems plausible that Basques differentiated from European populations before the Celtic invasion. This confirms the linguistic evidence that Basques have nothing to share with Celts. (c) If Basques share a common genetic ancestry with Caucasian speaking and North-African populations, this occurred before the