Reanalysis of Eurasian population history: ancient DNA evidence of population affinities.

Full Abstract

Mitochondrial hypervariable region I genetic data from ancient populations at two sites in Asia-Linzi in Shandong (northern China) and Egyin Gol in Mongolia-were reanalyzed to detect population affinities. Data from 51 modern populations were used to generate distance measures (Fst's) to the two ancient populations. The tests first analyzed relationships at the regional level and then compiled the top regional matches for an overall comparison to the two probe populations. The reanalysis showed that the Egyin Gol and Linzi populations have clear distinctions in genetic affinity. The Egyin Gol population as a whole appears to bear close affinities with modern populations of northern East Asia. The Linzi population seems to have some genetic affinities with the West, as suggested by the original analysis, although the original attribution of "European-like" seems to be misleading. We suggest that the Linzi individuals are potentially related to early Iranians, who are thought to have been widespread in parts of Central Eurasia and the steppe regions in the first millennium B.C., although some significant admixture between a number of populations of varying origin cannot be ruled out. We also examine the effect of sequence length on this type of genetic data analysis and discuss the results of previous studies on the Linzi sample.

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Author information

Author/s: Bennett, Casey C (CC); Kaestle, Frederika A (FA);

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Human biology; an international record of research (Hum Biol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 78 (issue 4) : pp 413-40

Dates: Created 2007/02/06; Completed 2007/03/15;

PMID: 17278619, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Asian Continental Ancestry Group - genetics
China
DNA, Mitochondrial - analysis

Associated Chemicals: DNA, Mitochondrial (0)

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