Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oracle]

Here is THE latest (abridged) study on Cypriots ...

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HEMOGLOBIN VARIANTS IN CYPRUS

Andreani R. Kyrri,1 Xenia Felekis,2 Eleni Kalogerou,1 Barbara J. Wild,3
Loukas Kythreotis,1 Marios Phylactides,2 and Marina Kleanthous2

1Thalassaemia Centre, Makarios Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus
2Thalassaemia Department, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus 3Haematology Department, King’s College Hospital, London, UK

Hemoglobin: 2009

Cyprus, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean region, has been a place of eastern and western civilizations, and the presence of various hemoglobin (Hb) variants can be considered a testimony to past colonizations of the island. In this study, we report the structural Hb variants identified in the Cypriot population (Greek Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and Latinos) during the thalassemia screening of 248,000 subjects carried out at the Thalassaemia Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus, over a period of 26 years. A sample population of 65,668 people was used to determine the frequency and localization of several of the variants identified in Cyprus. The localization of some of the variants in regions where the presence of foreign people was most prevalent provides important clues to the origin of the variants. Twelve structural variants have been identified by DNA sequencing, nine concerning the b-globin gene and three concerning the a-globin gene.

The presence of some of these variants is likely to be directly linked to the history of Cyprus, as archeological monuments have been found throughout the island which signify the presence for many years of the Greeks, Syrians, Persians, Arabs, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, and Turks.


INTRODUCTION

Cyprus is the second largest island in the Mediterranean, with a population
of 802,500 people. This is composed of five ethnic groups: Greek Cypriots
(708,000), Turkish Cypriots (89,000), Maronites (4,500), Armenians (500), and Latinos (approximately 500) (estimations by the Department of
Statistics and Research, Government of Cyprus, 2002).

The island is situated at the crossroads of three continents, at a point where great civilizations meet, and as a result has developed and maintained its own civilization for thousands of years, assimilating various influences but retaining the Greek civilization throughout and maintaining its Greek character. The influence of neighboring peoples is not only reflected in the culture of a place but also in the genetic makeup of its population. There has been continual change in the demographic status of Cyprus over the past few years due to the influx of various nationalities from Europe and other continents, and it is expected that additional non-native Hb variants have been and will continue
to be introduced to the island. A picture of the common Cypriot variant Hbs has been built up over the past 26 years through the Cyprus Thalassaemia Screening Programme.

RESULTS

The bS allele tends to be highly localized along the north and eastern
coast of the island, in the Morphou, Kyrenia, Karpasia, and Famagusta
districts (Figure 1). All the Hb D carriers identified originated from a total
of four villages, Deftera and Flasou in the Nicosia district, and Vasilia and
Lapithos in the Kyrenia district. The district of Larnaca in the south of
Cyprus is the main origin for Hb Lepore-WB with the main foci concentrated in the rural areas of this district.

Hb Setif is the most frequent a-globin variant (0.1%) and is mainly
located in the coastal area of the Kyrenia district in the northern part of
Cyprus. Sporadic cases were also found in certain villages of the district of
Paphos in the west. Another main focus of this a-globin variant is the village of Fterikoudi in the Troodos mountain range in the district of Nicosia. It has been observed that most of the rare Hb variants encountered in our study originate mainly from coastal villages in the north, east, and southern parts of Cyprus.

DISCUSSION

The structural Hb [Haemoglobin] variants identified in the Greek Cypriot population, both the rare and the more common ones, included both a-chain and b-chain variants. The presence of these variants shows that Cyprus can be considered at the same time a country of Greek, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern civilizations.
Throughout its history, Cyprus has been subjected to raids, foreign settlements, and colonizations.

From the fifth to the tenth century AD Cyprus was a province of the
Greek Byzantine Empire, and according to historical sources during this
time, it frequently came under attack from pirates who were based on the
shores of North Africa (24). The Byzantines guarded their provinces using soldiers originating from throughout the Byzantine Empire including
Black Africans who were granted their freedom in exchange for their services.
The north of Cyprus has historical evidence of these past skirmishes
with various fortifications and castles like Buffavento, Kantara, and Saint
Hilarion still standing. Slaves were also brought to the island by the Arabs
during their invasions and later by the Franks, Venetians, and Ottoman
Turks who settled in the fertile lands of Morphou, Messaoria, and
Karpasia. This explains the presence of the main foci of Hb S in this part of
the island.

Hb Lepore in Cyprus was identified in this study to be of the Washington-
Boston type, which is the predominant type of Hb Lepore worldwide. It is
common among other Mediterranean populations, especially in central
and eastern Mediterranean countries (25). It is possible that there was a
common origin for Hb Lepore-WB that spread by population migrations.
On the other hand, the presence of Hb Lepore-WB in diverse ethnic
groups, such as the Eastern Mediterraneans, Europeans, African Americans, Jamaicans, and Asian Indians, strongly suggests that at least in some areas this variant must have arisen independently.

The introduction of Hb Lepore-WB to Cyprus may be due to past colonization of the island by the Greeks (fifteenth to fifth century BC) (26,27), Persians (fifth to third century BC), Romans (first century BC), or the Venetians (thirteenth century AD) (26,28–30) or it might be due to the fact that Cyprus was a crossroad and a landing place for trade with the Middle East and North Africa.

The localization of Hb Lepore-WB to various villages in the fertile land near
Larnaca may be due to the fact that Larnaca was used as the main port in
Cyprus for commercial traffic and as a landing stage for people from countries all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Many delegations and embassies were present in Larnaca from the eleventh to the twentieth century AD. Interestingly, the villages in the Larnaca district that are currently the foci of Hb Lepore-WB incidences had been settled by the Italians after the twelfth century AD following the Venetian and Frankish occupation of Cyprus.

Hb D-Punjab, which is rarely found in Cyprus (0.02%), is confined to only a few villages located in the Nicosia district (Deftera and Flasou) and in the Kyrenia district (Vasilia and Lapithos). This is a stable b-globin variant encountered in neighboring countries such as Turkey (31); Morocco,Algeria, and Tunisia (32); India (33); Iran (34); Greece (35) as well as in the United Kingdom (36) and the United States (37). The presence of this variant in Cyprus may be explained on the basis of population migrations and covers the period of appearance of the mutation and its distribution to Northern India, Iran, and Turkey and may reflect the pattern of migrations that occurred in the region during the times of Darious I of Persia or later during the Mongol invasion.

It must be noted that Cyprus was under Persian rule from 521 to 485 BC and Ottoman occupation for almost 308 years (AD 1570–1878).

Most of the remaining b-globin variants encountered in Cyprus were
originally identified in neighboring countries. Hb Beirut was found in
members of a Lebanese family, Hb Knossos was found in Greece and other Mediterranean countries, Hb Serres was also found in Greece. Hb Nicosia was found in a Greek Cypriot boy living in Russia in 1983. Hb G-Accra was found in Black families from Ghana. The case reported in this study was not inherited from the parents but resulted from a spontaneous mutation.

A novel variant encountered during the screening of 250,000 Greek Cypriots is Hb Limassol (1). Hb Setif is the most common of the a-globin structural variant in Cyprus (0.1%). The main focus for the presence of this variant is the village of Fterikoudi in the mountain range of Troodos. The cases reported so far refer to families originating from the north (Kyrenia and Karpasia) and west of Cyprus (Paphos district). Hb Setif is found in the Mediterranean region. It was first described in an Algerian male in a Kamyl family (10) and is frequently found in the Arabo-Berber ethnic group in North Africa. The pirate raids in the seventh and ninth centuries AD from North Africa to Cyprus, the presence of the Persians, Egyptians, and the Assyrians from 1050 to 325 BC, as well as trade settlements are the main reasons that Hb Setif is present in Cyprus today.

The rare a-globin variant Hb Handsworth was found in an Indian, a Chinese, and a Saudi Arabian family. Hb Fontainebleau was found in an Italian family (12).
Among 1,000 cord blood samples screened, no g-globin variants were
detected, indicating that the frequency of g-globin variants in Cyprus is very low or nonexistent. Further research through the HbVar database on the frequency and origin of g-chain variants in the neighboring countries has revealed the low frequency of g-chain variants in these countries as well, i.e.,in Greece, two cases of g-chain variants, Hb F-Lesvos [Gg75(E19)Ile→Thr] and Hb F-Alexandra [g12(A9)Thr→Lys] (which were found in single families), have been described.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we drew upon historical data and records to explain the
localization patterns identified for the different Hb variants encountered in
Cyprus in a population of Greek Cypriot origin. The common Hb variants
(Hb S, Hb D-Punjab, Hb Lepore-WB) are highly concentrated in the north,
east, and south coastal areas of Cyprus, a fact strongly indicating that they are the ‘genetic heritage’ of several conquerors who came to the island through the years. The rare Hb variants, encountered in one or two families in each case, are located in the same areas and most probably have their origin from the neighboring Mediterranean, Middle East, and North African countries. In the last 10 years, an increased influx of people from various countries has been observed. Firstly, a number of Philippino women, who originally came to Cyprus for employment as domestic staff, have married local people and remained on the island. More recently, an influx of people was observed from other European countries, especially Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The introduction of, and intermingling with, people of different genetic backgrounds will open a new a chapter in the genetic history of the globin genes in Cyprus, possibly introducing new mutations and different Hb variants.

[Get Real!]

Andreani R. Kyrri,1 Xenia Felekis,2 Eleni Kalogerou,1 Barbara J. Wild,3 Loukas Kythreotis,1 Marios Phylactides,2 and Marina Kleanthous2

Not interested in anything they have to say.

[yialousa1971]

I think most of the Maltese descend from Siculo-Arabic speaking Sicilian-Calabrian refugees who were cornered in Noto (the last Siclian muslim town). Noto is the closest part of Sicily to Malta...they also share the same genes.

I would like to point out another interesting fact that may add something to undermine the credibility of this study.

As you may now, Sicily and Malta and strongly connected. Actually Malta was until very recently just one of the islands belonging to Sicily.

Now, the study claims basically that Lebanese people and Maltese people show a very high genetic similarity.

There is a problem though: to my knowledge none of the inhabitant of Malta at the time of the Phoenician could have transmitted that genetic heritage to this day, because it appears that the island lost all of its inhabitant in later times.

Malta has been completely repopulated with people coming from Sicily, and if I remember correctly this happened when Sicily was a Muslim kingdom.

So the similarity between Maltese and Lebanese does not go back to Phoenicians times.

Pay attention to the above quotes, the modern Maltese are not decended from the Phoenicians.

[Get Real!]

I’ll tell you what Piratis, be my guest and prove that “Cyprus is Greek”!

Greek language, Greek religion, Greek culture and most importantly a Greek identity of the vast majority of the population, now and for 1000s of years. What more proof do you want?

Is that it? I buried all that ages ago...

http://www.cyprus-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=23213

[Get Real!]

Pay attention to the above quotes, the modern Maltese are not decended from the Phoenicians.

Yialousa, this will come as a total surprise for you but I haven't the SLIGHTEST interest in the Maltese… but thanks anyway.

[yialousa1971]

Genetic origin of contemporary Maltese

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The Times & The Sunday Times, Malta
Genetic origin of contemporary Maltese

Alex E. Felice


I refer to Roderick Bovingdon's interview with Professor Alexander Borg (The Sunday Times, July 22). In particular, I want to discuss the statements made by both regarding the genetic origin of the Maltese.

I am surprised that both your correspondents failed to refer to the only major study connected with the matter, and that has been published in the mainstream scientific literature.

Together with colleagues from other institutions across the Mediterranean and in collaboration with the group led by David Goldstein at the University College, London, we have shown that the contemporary males of Malta most likely originated from Southern Italy, including Sicily and up to Calabria. There is a minuscule amount of input from the Eastern Mediterranean with genetic affinity to Christian Lebanon.

Of course, females may have moved, or been moved, along a different route. We used a number of validated DNA markers on the Y chromosome, which are transmitted from male to male. The samples were obtained from an anonymous DNA bank of random newborn DNA that has approval of the research ethics committee of the University of Malta and is a founding member of Euro-Bio-Bank, thus providing for high standards in banking. The methods included state-of-the-art molecular biology and advanced IT tools.

We documented clustering of the Maltese markers with those of Sicilians and Calabrians. The study is published in the Annals of Human Genetics by C. Capelli, N. Redhead, N. Novelletto, L. Terrenato, P. Malaspina, Z. Poulli, G. Lefranc, A. Megarbane, V. Delague, V. Romano, F. Cali, V.F. Pascali, M. Fellous, A.E. Felice, and D.B. Goldstein; "Population Structure in the Mediterranean Basin; A Y Chromosome Perspective", AHG, 69, 1-20, 2005.

These data are fully consistent with other genetic data that we have collected over the last few years of intensive research connected with our service obligations in diagnostic molecular genetics. They are conducted from our Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, in the University of Malta for the Department of Health, Division of Pathology, St Luke's Hospital, and connected with our research program about the epidemiology of genetic disease in Malta. Many aspects of this research have been supported by competitive funding from the Framework Programmes for Research and Development of the Commission of the European Union (EU Avicenne and FP5-7).

In addition to the Y chromosome DNA typing, we have strong data about the distribution of haemoglobin disorders (Thalassaemia and Haemoglobin Variants, Scerri, 1998, Ph.D. thesis, University of Malta, and A.E. Felice et al., "Molecular Epidemiology of Haemoglobin and the Molecular Biology of in vivo Globin Gene Expression. Life Chemistry reports 15,1, 27-36, 1997) and "Human Leukocyte Antigens" (G. Dean, T.W. Yeo, A. Goris, C.J. Taylor, R.S. Goodma, M. Elian, A. Galea-Debono, A. Aquilina, A. Felice, M. Vella, S. Sawcer and D.A.S. Compston:. "HLA-DRB1 and multiple sclerosis in Malta", Neurology, 2007 in press).

We are aware of conflicting conclusions published as an interview in the popular National Geographic magazine. Despite an intensive search we cannot find them reproduced in the mainstream scientific literature. We consider that data somewhat flawed, and furthermore, unsound. National Geographic is not a peer-reviewed academic journal and thus the weight of the evidence is poor compared to other peer-reviewed academic journals that are also in the public domain. One cannot be comfortable with data that have not passed the scrutiny of peer review.

We stand to be corrected, but again, the DNA markers used appear to be limited and pre-date by far the population movements under investigation. The IT tools used also appear below today's standards. As far as we can tell, that study did not have research ethics approval of any research ethics committee in Malta, of the Department of Health or the University. We do not know what consent procedures have been used and consequently what bias could have been introduced into that study.

The most alarming observation is that, without an institutional base in Malta, we do not know what material transfer agreements were employed. We argue very strongly against the shipping of any human DNA from Malta to other organisations unless it is done within the context of specific agreements that determine the fate of the DNA after the contracted work, whether for diagnosis or discovery, has been finished.

Repopulation

The public should be cautious with regard to wild statements such as that "half of the Maltese are of Phoenician origin" and even more of the purveyors of testing kits supposedly intended to predict ancestry but based on weak science as I explained above. Contrary to the opinion of Bovingdon and Borg, it seems to me that the simplest explanation that cannot be excluded by any of the scientific data thus far available is that Malta was indeed barely inhabited at the turn of the tenth century.

Repopulation is likely to have occurred by a clan or clans (possibly of Arab or Arab-like speaking people) from neighbouring Sicily and Calabria.

Possibly, they could have mixed with minute numbers of residual inhabitants, with a constant input of immigrants from neighbouring countries and later, even from afar. There seems to be little input from North Africa.

Populations have a genetic structure. It is not easy to define, although it reflects origins to a certain extent. It often impairs association studies in the search for genes that have to do with common, complex disorders such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and others. Conditions such as these are thought to be due to the interplay of multiple genes with quantitative effects and that could differ in population origin.

One could say, for instance, that the genetics of Malta could be partly accounted for by assuming a relatively small number of relatively large families. Yet, there may be so-called "founder effects" by which a single person with a particular DNA abnormality, or mutation, that over time, spread it across a large segment of a population by virtue of an albeit unknown selective advantage. Thalassaemia could be a good example, if one believed that in a very distant time Malta was wet and marshy with good habitats for the mosquitoes.

The alternative explanation is that of "genetic drift". It occurs by random expansion without a specific advantage. It is easy to simulate on computers. We have strong evidence for "founding effects" only in two situations that we have studied intensively, that is, the Haemoglobinopathies and the Dopa Responsive Dystonias, or as we call them, the BH4 deficiencies or atypical phenylketonuria, with a carrier rate of around three per cent (see A.E. Felice et al., op. cit., R. Farrugia, C.A. Scerri, S. Attard Montalto, R. Parascandalo, B.R.G. Neville and A.E. Felice: "Molecular Pathology of TetrahydroBiopterin (BH4) Deficiency in the Maltese Population. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism" doi:10.1016/j.ymgme.2006.10.013 and B.R.G. Neville, R. Parascandalo, S. Attard Montalto, R. Farrugia and A.E. Felice: "A Congenital Dopa Responsive Motor Disorder: a Maltese Variant due to Sepiapterin Reductase Deficiency", Brain, 128, 2291-2296, 2005).

Scientific research of this kind, although apparently for the uninstructed basic and untargeted, is in fact very important beyond the unique cultural interests as to the origin of populations. It bears on public health issues as much as on fundamental knowledge into gene interaction, the molecular biology of common disease and the discovery of innovative genetic medicines.

Alex E. Felice, MD, Ph.D., is head of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Bio-Medical Science, University of Malta, and of the Division of Pathology, St Luke's Hospital.

[Oracle]

Andreani R. Kyrri,1 Xenia Felekis,2 Eleni Kalogerou,1 Barbara J. Wild,3 Loukas Kythreotis,1 Marios Phylactides,2 and Marina Kleanthous2

Not interested in anything they have to say.

Why?

... because they cite evidence?

[yialousa1971]

Pay attention to the above quotes, the modern Maltese are not decended from the Phoenicians.

Yialousa, this will come as a total surprise for you but I haven't the SLIGHTEST interest in the Maltese… but thanks anyway.

Seems like you don't like the truth like the so called expert on the Phoenicians, just like Pierre A. Zalloua.

Pierre A. Zalloua wrote:

The National Geographic study, discussed elsewhere in this site, made some remakable discoveries regarding the ethnic origin of the Maltese people. Science and genetics came to prove what history could not make certain. Despite the claims that upon the Arab occupation of Malta it was vacated of ALL its inhabitants around the year AD 869, carrying 'one and all' into slavery and leaving no Punic or Latin survivors behind, genetics prove this to be untrue. The National Geographic study indicates that more than half of the Y chromosome lineages in today's Maltese population came in with the Phoenicians, and there is a very close genetic relationship between the Maltese and the Lebanese Phoenicians.

http://phoenicia.org/maltese.html

He can't take the truth can Pierre A. Zalloua, see above for article from the Maltese Times.

[Get Real!]

"A Dark Age Descends upon Greece
Around 1200 BCE, Dorian Greeks -- who had been living just north of Greece and spoke a dialect different from the Mycenae Greeks -- began the first of their invasions into the Greek peninsula. They bypassed some areas but overran much of the Mycenae civilization that had spread into the central part of the Greek mainland. They looted and destroyed palaces and sent people fleeing, some eastward to Asia Minor, some southeast to nearby islands and to Cyprus.

Had the Dorians been Greeks, they would’ve never…

1. Spoken a different “dialect” because there were no other Greek dialects back then. What they did speak was a different LANGUAGE but someone chose to call it a "dialect"!

2. Launched a full scale invasion and occupation, against their “own kind”! That’s ridiculous!

3. Looted and destroyed palaces had they observed the same Gods and/or top leadership! (High command)

Seeing that they spoke different, wrote different, had their own high command, had no respect for the Mycenaean palaces, Gods, and culture by utterly destroying it, proves beyond any reasonable doubt that these people did NOT belong to the same group they were attacking. It doesn’t make sense otherwise!

The “three major Greek tribes” is yet another fabrication of the 18th century “historians” who were hell-bent on closing up all likely loop-holes of discontinuity by claiming that even those who totally trashed the Mycenaeans were… like-Mycenaeans!!! It’s the biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever read!

And finally, Herodotus whom the modern “Greeks” regard as the "Father of History" (and where they get all their historical “facts” from) was in fact the biggest liar on the planet! (but more on this mythological jerk in another thread)

[Get Real!]

Andreani R. Kyrri,1 Xenia Felekis,2 Eleni Kalogerou,1 Barbara J. Wild,3 Loukas Kythreotis,1 Marios Phylactides,2 and Marina Kleanthous2

Not interested in anything they have to say.

Why?

... because they cite evidence?

I didn't read past their names.