Laboratory of Human Genetics

Maxat

Zhabagin

Head of laboratory, Ph.D.

Graduate of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. He defended his thesis for the degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences in the speciality of genetics at the dissertation council of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics Russian Academy of Science. Scholar of the international program “Bolashak” (2007-2012) and the program for talented scientists of Nazarbayev University “Talap” (2014).

Laureate of the State Youth Award “Daryn“ of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of science (2016), winner of D.A. Kunaev Prize for young scientists for the best work in the field of natural sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2017). He was awarded the medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the prize for young scientists of Russia for the best scientific work (2019). He was awarded the independent award “Leader of Science – Web of Science awards” as the “Best Young Scientist” in Kazakhstan according to the international information and analytical platform “Web of Science” (2019), the Young Researchers Alliance award in the nomination “Best Science Communicator” for popularizing science (2019). Awarded with the letter of gratitude from the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and “Altyn bars” badge (2019). Scholar of the State Scientific Fellowship for Talented Young Scientists (2020)

ORCID ID – 0000-0003-3414-0610

Scopus ID – 56590111900

Projects

Research directions

  • Study of the genetic diversity and genetic history of the formation of Central Asia population;
  • Genogeographic researches of the gene pool;
  • Studies on the adaptability of the gene pool and genetic-cultural co-evolution;
  • Studies in the field of paleogenetics;
  • Studies in the field of genomic and evolutionary medicine;
  • Studies in the field of forensic genetics;
  • Formation of the population-genetic biobank of Central Asia population.

Innovative developments

  • For the first time, it was revealed that the genetic differences between clans are 1.5 times greater than those of between regional populations (AMOVA); a reliable correlation between genetic and quasigenetic (frequency of clans in populations) distances and its absence between genetic and geographical distances has been established;
  • It has been established that the geographical landscape of Transoxiana does not directly affect the genetic landscape. The economic-cultural type (agriculture and nomadic cattle breeding) has a main role in structuring the gene pool of Kazakh and neighboring populations of the Amudarya and Syrdarya basins;
  • Verification of genealogical legends of clan groups using Y-chromosome polymorphism demonstrates the wide possibilities of using genetic data for other populations where the tribal structure is preserved;
  • The obtained correspondence of the phylogenetic tree of the haplogroup G1 (based on the analysis of the extended regions of the MSY region ~ 10 million bp) and the traditional genealogy (based on the shezhire argyn), which goes back to a historical person with a known lifetime, gives an independent evaluation of the SNP mutation rate of Y- chromosome: 0.78*10-9per nucleotide per year.

Core publications

Zhabagin M., Sabitov Z., Tazhigulova I., Alborova I., Agdzhoyan A., Wei L.H., Urasin V., Koshel S., Mustafin K., Akilzhanova A., Li H., Balanovsky O., Balanovska E.
Medieval Super-Grandfather founder of Western Kazakh Clans from Haplogroup C2a1a2-M48// Journal of Human Genetics, 2021

Ashirbekov Y., Abaildayev A., Neupokoyeva A., Sabitov Z., Zhabagin M.
Genetic polymorphism of 27 Y-STR loci in Kazakh populations from Northern Kazakhstan // Annals of Human Biology. - 2022

Gorin, I., Balanovsky, O., Kozlov, O., Koshel, S., Kostryukova, E., Zhabagin, M., Agdzhoyan, A ., Pylev, V., Balanovska, E.
Determining the Area of Ancestral Origin for Individuals From North Eurasia Based on 5,229 // SNP Markers

Zhabagin, M., Wei, Lan-Haic, Sabitov, Zh.,Ma, Peng-Chengg., Sun, Jinh., Dyussenova, Zh., Balanovska, E., Li, H., Ramankulov, Y.
Ancient Components and Recent Expansion in the Eurasian Heartland: Insights into the Revised Phylogeny of Y-Chromosomes from Central Asia // Genes. - 2022

Ashirbekov, Y., Sabitov, Zh., Aidarov, B., Abaildayev, A., Junissova, Z., Cherusheva, A., Saidamarova, V., Sharipov, K., Ramankulov, Y., Zhabagin, M.
Genetic Polymorphism of 27 Y-STR Loci in the Western Kazakh Tribes from Kazakhstan and Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan // Genes. - 2022

Askapuli, Ayken; Vilar, Miguel; Garcia-Ortiz, Humberto; Zhabagin, Maxat; Sabitov, Zhaxylyk; Akilzhanova, Ainur; Ramanculov, Erlan; Schamiloglu, Uli; Martinez-Hernandez, Angelica; Contreras-Cubas, Cecilia; Barajas-Olmos, Francisco; Schurr, Theodore G.
Kazak mitochondrial genomes provide insights into the human population history of Central Eurasia // PLoS ONE. - 2022