Accepted_test

According to archaeological and historical data, nomad tribes (I millennium B.C. until I millennium A.D.) played a key role in cultural and ethnic processes in Central Asia and adjacent regions. The processes that took place during this period determined the gene pool structure of the Eurasia indigenous population, including modern Mongol- and Turkic-speaking ethnic groups. The Southern Siberia Iron Age population under study (the Xiongnu and synchronous groups of Tuva and the Sayan-Altai mountainous country) participated in large-scale migration events that covered the entire Eurasian steppe belt and adjacent regions. MtDNA (205 samples) and Y-chromosome gene pool of four Xiongu-Sarmatian time populations’ were studied - the Transbaikalian Xiongnu, the Xiongnu-Sarmatian time Tuva population, the Minusinsk Basin Tashtyk culture and the Altai Mountains Bulan-Koba culture. The Transbaikalian Xiongnu mtDNA gene pool found high similarity with modern Mongol-speaking populations of East Central Asia. The main mechanism for the mtDNA structure gene pool formation of other Southern Siberia Xiongnu-Sarmatian time populations under study considered is their genetic continuity with the previous Scythian time population. Thus, the observed level of genetic diversity groups under study was largely formed in the previous Scythian time. The Southern Siberia population mtDNA gene pool contains minor components that indicate the probable genetic influence of the Xiongnu and/or related Central Asian nomads. This influence apparently played the role as a secondary factor in changing the MtDNA gene pool of the Altai-Sayan mountain system and nearby regions population. The data obtained on the male gene pool generally confirm these conclusions.