Genetic characterization of the historical albanian ethnic minority of Calabria (Southern Italy)

Three historical ethnic minorities are present in Calabria: Albanian, Greek, and Occitan. The Albanian ethnic minority is the more populous having settled in Calabria between the XV and XVII centuries a.C., and these people are now located in the provinces of Cosenza and Catanzaro. In the present work the Albanian population structure is analyzed based upon the allelic frequencies of six classic genetic markers: ACP, GC, PGM1, AK, ADA, and 6PGD. The results show a significant heterogeneity between the Albanian population in Calabria and the population in Molise. Therefore, the cultural and reproductive isolation of the Albanian ethnic minority of Calabria is related to a great genetic peculiarity. Moreover, the frequencies of some alleles, particularly those of the PGM*1W31 variant, and the analysis of the R-matrix still show the actual peculiar genetic structure of the Albanians of Calabria, although the genetic flow is evident in the decrease of endogamy and in the increase of the degree of mixing.