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Hi. First off, please forgive my lack of in-depth knowledge of genetics, or if I'm asking an entirely stupid question... 
I'm confused about the relationship of the Sami Motif between Samis and Finns.
Meinila et al.'s 2001 article Evidence for mtDNA Admixture between the Finns and the Saami suggests that the presence of the Sami Motif in Finns is due to admixture that occurred a few hundred years ago when agricultural Finns moved northward and possibly intermarried with Sami women. (The frequencies for the Sami Motif given are 34% for Finland Sami and 12% for Northern Finns [in Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, which are south of the northern province of Lapland, or Sapmi, home to Samis]).
But Ingeman and Gyllensten's 2007 article A recent genetic link between Sami and the Volga-Ural region of Russia, which still attributes the Sami Motif in Finns due to admixture, states that while the most recent common ancestor of Sami Motif lineages in Samis is about 5,500 YBP, the most recent common ancestor of Sami Motif lineages between Samis and Finns is about 6,600 YBP.
Does that indicate then that admixture between Samis and Finns (or their ancestors, or whatever) along this lineage occurred (or diverged?) not within the last few hundred years, but around 6,600 years ago? Also, what about the "partial Sami Motif" (underlined below) that Meinila et al. mention?
Thank you!
Evidence for mtDNA Admixture between the Finns and the Saami
Maria Meinila, Saara Finnila, Kari Majamaa
Departments of Neurology and Medical Biochemistry, and Biocenter, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Address of Corresponding Author
Hum Hered 2001;52:160-170 (DOI: 10.1159/000053372)
"Three HVS-I haplotypes were the most common among Finnish populations. These included haplotype H/ht1 (10%), which is identical to the Cambridge reference sequence (CRS) [22], haplotype W/ht1 (8.9%), and haplotype U/ht1 (7.4%), which contains the Saami motif (see Appendix). Haplotypes U/ht6 and U/ht7 also harbored the Saami motif, making its frequency 8.7%, the highest observed outside the Saami population. However, the frequency of the Saami motif differed between northern (12.3%) and central (5.0%) Finland (p = 0.01, Fischer's exact test). In addition, the partial Saami motif 16189TrarrC and 16270CrarrT was found at a frequency of 7.4% (8.4% in the northern provinces and 6.5% in the central provinces). Altogether, 16270CrarrT was found in 82% of the samples belonging to haplogroup U. This substitution has been used to define subcluster U5, but we found that an additional 11 samples belonged to this subcluster when the 9477GrarrA polymorphism was used as well (see Appendix) [14]. Thus subcluster U5 was found at a frequency of 26% in the Finnish population.
"The results of AMOVA suggested that variance due to variation among populations was slightly lower between the northern Finland population and the Saami than between that of central Finland and the Saami. Ten out of the 103 Finnish and 26 Saami haplotypes were shared, giving a similar estimate for the frequency of shared haplotypes as has been reported previously [11]. Five of the 10 haplotypes occurred at a frequency >1% in the Saami and, interestingly, each of them was more frequent in northern Finland than in central Finland. One of these harbored the Saami motif [10]. Haplotypes with this motif have been thought to be restricted to the Saami and have been observed at a frequency of 58% in the Norwegian Saami [25] and 34% in the Finnish and Swedish Saami [10], but the motif is rare elsewhere in northern Europe and absent in other parts of Europe [9, 10]. We found the frequency of this motif to be 12.3% in the samples from northern Finland and 5% in the samples from central Finland (see Appendix), and it has been reported in 1 out of 32 samples (3%) representing the entire Finnish population [11]. The Saami motif has been found at a frequency of 1.0% among Russians [26] and 2.3% among Norwegians [27], but it was not detected in a small sample of Swedes [7], although 3197TrarrC, a polymorphism suggestive of subcluster U5 [14], has been found at a frequency of 11% [28].
The Saami are considered genetic outliers in Europe [3, 29], and therefore the high frequency of the Saami motif in northern Finland is interesting, as it suggests admixture between the Saami and Finnish settlers during the colonization of Finland. On the basis of the differences in haplotype frequencies between northern and central Finland and on the assumption that the acculturation of Saami women to an agricultural lifestyle was more probable than that of Finnish women to a nomadic lifestyle, it may be said that the flow of mtDNA has been from the Saami to the Finns. However, gene flow has probably been reciprocal, and an opposite flow may be suggested by the observation of three closely related European-specific haplotypes H/ht1, H/ht12 and H/ht19 in the Saami and by the presence of haplotype V/ht3 that is widely distributed in European populations [21]."
[i]A recent genetic link between Sami and the Volga-Ural region of Russia
European Journal of Human Genetics (2007) 15, 115
I'm confused about the relationship of the Sami Motif between Samis and Finns.
Meinila et al.'s 2001 article Evidence for mtDNA Admixture between the Finns and the Saami suggests that the presence of the Sami Motif in Finns is due to admixture that occurred a few hundred years ago when agricultural Finns moved northward and possibly intermarried with Sami women. (The frequencies for the Sami Motif given are 34% for Finland Sami and 12% for Northern Finns [in Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, which are south of the northern province of Lapland, or Sapmi, home to Samis]).
But Ingeman and Gyllensten's 2007 article A recent genetic link between Sami and the Volga-Ural region of Russia, which still attributes the Sami Motif in Finns due to admixture, states that while the most recent common ancestor of Sami Motif lineages in Samis is about 5,500 YBP, the most recent common ancestor of Sami Motif lineages between Samis and Finns is about 6,600 YBP.
Does that indicate then that admixture between Samis and Finns (or their ancestors, or whatever) along this lineage occurred (or diverged?) not within the last few hundred years, but around 6,600 years ago? Also, what about the "partial Sami Motif" (underlined below) that Meinila et al. mention?
Thank you!
Evidence for mtDNA Admixture between the Finns and the Saami
Maria Meinila, Saara Finnila, Kari Majamaa
Departments of Neurology and Medical Biochemistry, and Biocenter, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Address of Corresponding Author
Hum Hered 2001;52:160-170 (DOI: 10.1159/000053372)
"Three HVS-I haplotypes were the most common among Finnish populations. These included haplotype H/ht1 (10%), which is identical to the Cambridge reference sequence (CRS) [22], haplotype W/ht1 (8.9%), and haplotype U/ht1 (7.4%), which contains the Saami motif (see Appendix). Haplotypes U/ht6 and U/ht7 also harbored the Saami motif, making its frequency 8.7%, the highest observed outside the Saami population. However, the frequency of the Saami motif differed between northern (12.3%) and central (5.0%) Finland (p = 0.01, Fischer's exact test). In addition, the partial Saami motif 16189TrarrC and 16270CrarrT was found at a frequency of 7.4% (8.4% in the northern provinces and 6.5% in the central provinces). Altogether, 16270CrarrT was found in 82% of the samples belonging to haplogroup U. This substitution has been used to define subcluster U5, but we found that an additional 11 samples belonged to this subcluster when the 9477GrarrA polymorphism was used as well (see Appendix) [14]. Thus subcluster U5 was found at a frequency of 26% in the Finnish population.
"The results of AMOVA suggested that variance due to variation among populations was slightly lower between the northern Finland population and the Saami than between that of central Finland and the Saami. Ten out of the 103 Finnish and 26 Saami haplotypes were shared, giving a similar estimate for the frequency of shared haplotypes as has been reported previously [11]. Five of the 10 haplotypes occurred at a frequency >1% in the Saami and, interestingly, each of them was more frequent in northern Finland than in central Finland. One of these harbored the Saami motif [10]. Haplotypes with this motif have been thought to be restricted to the Saami and have been observed at a frequency of 58% in the Norwegian Saami [25] and 34% in the Finnish and Swedish Saami [10], but the motif is rare elsewhere in northern Europe and absent in other parts of Europe [9, 10]. We found the frequency of this motif to be 12.3% in the samples from northern Finland and 5% in the samples from central Finland (see Appendix), and it has been reported in 1 out of 32 samples (3%) representing the entire Finnish population [11]. The Saami motif has been found at a frequency of 1.0% among Russians [26] and 2.3% among Norwegians [27], but it was not detected in a small sample of Swedes [7], although 3197TrarrC, a polymorphism suggestive of subcluster U5 [14], has been found at a frequency of 11% [28].
The Saami are considered genetic outliers in Europe [3, 29], and therefore the high frequency of the Saami motif in northern Finland is interesting, as it suggests admixture between the Saami and Finnish settlers during the colonization of Finland. On the basis of the differences in haplotype frequencies between northern and central Finland and on the assumption that the acculturation of Saami women to an agricultural lifestyle was more probable than that of Finnish women to a nomadic lifestyle, it may be said that the flow of mtDNA has been from the Saami to the Finns. However, gene flow has probably been reciprocal, and an opposite flow may be suggested by the observation of three closely related European-specific haplotypes H/ht1, H/ht12 and H/ht19 in the Saami and by the presence of haplotype V/ht3 that is widely distributed in European populations [21]."
[i]A recent genetic link between Sami and the Volga-Ural region of Russia
European Journal of Human Genetics (2007) 15, 115
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