Population Genetics of the European Roma—A Review

Abstract

The Roma are a group of populations with a common origin that share the Romani identity and cultural heritage. Their genetic history has been inferred through multiple studies based on uniparental and autosomal markers, and current genomic data have provided novel insights into their genetic background. This review was prompted by two factors: (i) new developments to estimate the genetic structure of the Roma at a fine-scale resolution have precisely identified the ancestral components and traced migrations that were previously documented only in historical sources, clarifying and solving debates on the origins and the diaspora of the Roma; (ii) while there has been an effort to review the health determinants of the Roma, the increasing literature on their population genetics has not been subjected to a dedicated review in the last two decades. We believe that a summary on the state of the art will benefit both the public and scholars that are approaching the subject.