The modern Bulgarians are descendants of many different ancient peoples, says Ivo Kremenski
Professor Ivo Kremenski is a person who knows a lot about the genes of the Bulgarian people. He heads the National Laboratory of Genetics, where recently an international team has discovered the reason for the hereditary atrophy of the peripheral nervous system. We asked Prof. Kremenski questions about the genetically predetermined diseases, about the origin of our people and its contribution to the European anthropological diversity.
- Prof. Kremenski, what changes in the genes of the Bulgarians would make them more European?- Our genes are perfect. The Bulgarians are survivors. The things that must be changed are not connected with the genes: rich people are both generous and smiling, which means that the thing to be changed is our everyday life.
- Does the fact that the Bulgarians are a genetic melting pot mean that they have inherited more diseases as well?- No,it doesn't. Just the opposite: the Bulgarians are offspring of many branches: Thracians, Slavs, Proto-Bulgarians... which have followed the way of storks and swallows, i.e our genotype is quite heterogeneous. This is why the number of hereditary diseases is comparatively low, but the defects are more and the diagnostics and prophylaxis are more difficult. In the ethnic groups that are comparatively closed, like the Romany, Jews, Finns the hereditary diseases are more common but the reasons for them are easy to discover.
- Where do the Bulgarians come from?- Some 1500 -2000 years ago a big wave of people settled in the territory of today's Bulgaria - the Proto-Bulgarians. They mixed with the Slav tribes. During our research we have discovered that 22% of the modern Bulgarian men share characteristic features with the men who lived on this territory 7000 years ago and have nothing in common with either Slavs or Thracians.
After receiving information about the women's DNA we can tell more about the origin and development of Bulgarian women's genotype. Thus, the picture of the Bulgarian's genetic history will become quite clear.
Yuliana Uzanicheva, StandartNews