PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Bea Szeifert AU - Dániel Gerber AU - Veronika Csáky AU - Péter Langó AU - Dmitrii A. Stashenkov AU - Aleksandr A. Khokhlov AU - Ayrat G. Sitdikov AU - Ilgizar R. Gazimzyanov AU - Elizaveta V. Volkova AU - Natalia P. Matveeva AU - Alexander S. Zelenkov AU - Olga E. Poshekhonova AU - Anastasiia V. Sleptsova AU - Konstantin G. Karacharov AU - Viktoria V. Ilyushina AU - Boris A. Konikov AU - Flarit A. Sungatov AU - Alexander G. Kolonskikh AU - Sergei G. Botalov AU - Ivan V. Grudochko AU - Oleksii Komar AU - Balázs Egyed AU - Balázs G. Mende AU - Attila Türk AU - Anna Szécsényi-Nagy TI - Tracing genetic connections of ancient Hungarians to the 6-14<sup>th</sup> century populations of the Volga-Ural region AID - 10.1101/2022.02.04.478947 DP - 2022 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2022.02.04.478947 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/28/2022.02.04.478947.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/28/2022.02.04.478947.full AB - Most of the early Hungarian tribes originated from the Volga-Kama and South-Ural regions, where they were composed of a mixed population based on historical, philological, and archaeological data. We present here the uniparental genetic makeup of the medieval era of these regions that served as a melting pot for ethnic groups with different linguistic and historical backgrounds. Representing diverse cultural contexts, the new genetic data originates from ancient proto-Ob-Ugric people from Western Siberia (6th-13th century), the pre-Conquest period, and subsisting Hungarians from the Volga-Ural region (6th-14th century) and their neighbours. By examining the eastern archaeology traits of Hungarian prehistory, we also study their genetic composition and origin in an interdisciplinary framework.We analysed 110 deep-sequenced mitogenomes and 42 Y-chromosome haplotypes from 18 archaeological sites in Russia. The results support the studied groups’ genetic relationships regardless of geographical distances, suggesting large-scale mobility. We detected long-lasting genetic connections between the sites representing the Kushnarenkovo and Chiyalik cultures and the Carpathian Basin Hungarians and confirmed the Uralic transmission of several East-Eurasian uniparental lineages in their genepool. Based on phylogenetics, we demonstrate and model the connections and splits of the studied Volga-Ural and conqueror groups.Early Hungarians and their alliances conquered the Carpathian Basin around 890 AD. Re-analysis of the Hungarian conquerors’ maternal genepool reveals numerous surviving maternal relationships in both sexes; therefore, we conclude that men and women came to the Carpathian Basin together, and although they were subsequently genetically fused into the local population, certain eastern lineages survived for centuries.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.AMOVAAnalysis of Molecular VarianceKL-IVGroup-IV based on Kovács, 10th century small cemeteries of the campsKL-VGroup-V based on Kovács, 10th century cemeteries of villages with a large number of burialsKL-VIGroup-VI based on Kovács, The cemeteries of villages opened in the 10th century and used until the 11th and 12th centuriesmtDNAmitochondrial DNAPCAPrincipal Component AnalysisSNPSingle Nucleotide PolymorphismSTRShort Tandem RepeatUDGUracil-DNA-Glycosylase