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Western Eurasian ancestry in modern Siberians base
Western Eurasian ancestry in modern Siberians based on mitogenomic data
Miroslava Derenko1*, Boris Malyarchuk1, Galina Denisova1, Maria Perkova1, Andrey Litvinov1, Tomasz Grzybowski2, Irina Dambueva3, Katarzyna Skonieczna2, Urszula Rogalla2, Iosif Tsybovsky4 and Ilya Zakharov5
BMC Evolutionary Biology 14:217
Publication Date: Oct 10, 2014
Abstract
Background: Although the genetic heritage of aboriginal Siberians is mostly of eastern Asian ancestry, a substantial western Eurasian component is observed in the majority of northern Asian populations. Traces of at least two migrations into southern Siberia, one from eastern Europe and the other from western Asia/the Caucasus have been detected previously in mitochondrial gene pools of modern Siberians.
Results: We report here 166 new complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences that allow us to expand and
re-analyze the available data sets of western Eurasian lineages found in northern Asian populations, define the
phylogenetic status of Siberian-specific subclades and search for links between mtDNA haplotypes/subclades and
events of human migrations. From a survey of 158 western Eurasian mtDNA genomes found in Siberia we estimate
that nearly 40% of them most likely have western Asian and another 29% European ancestry. It is striking that 65 of
northern Asian mitogenomes, i.e. ~41%, fall into 19 branches and subclades which can be considered as Siberian-specific
being found so far only in Siberian populations. From the coalescence analysis it is evident that the sequence divergence
of Siberian-specific subclades was relatively small, corresponding to only 0.6-9.5 kya (using the complete mtDNA rate) and
1–6 kya (coding region rate).
Conclusions: The phylogeographic analysis implies that the western Eurasian founders, giving rise to Siberian specific
subclades, may trace their ancestry only to the early and mid-Holocene, though some of genetic lineages may trace their
ancestry back to the end of Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We have not found the modern northern Asians to have western
Eurasian genetic components of sufficient antiquity to indicate traces of pre-LGM expansions.
Miroslava Derenko1*, Boris Malyarchuk1, Galina Denisova1, Maria Perkova1, Andrey Litvinov1, Tomasz Grzybowski2, Irina Dambueva3, Katarzyna Skonieczna2, Urszula Rogalla2, Iosif Tsybovsky4 and Ilya Zakharov5
BMC Evolutionary Biology 14:217
Publication Date: Oct 10, 2014
Abstract
Background: Although the genetic heritage of aboriginal Siberians is mostly of eastern Asian ancestry, a substantial western Eurasian component is observed in the majority of northern Asian populations. Traces of at least two migrations into southern Siberia, one from eastern Europe and the other from western Asia/the Caucasus have been detected previously in mitochondrial gene pools of modern Siberians.
Results: We report here 166 new complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences that allow us to expand and
re-analyze the available data sets of western Eurasian lineages found in northern Asian populations, define the
phylogenetic status of Siberian-specific subclades and search for links between mtDNA haplotypes/subclades and
events of human migrations. From a survey of 158 western Eurasian mtDNA genomes found in Siberia we estimate
that nearly 40% of them most likely have western Asian and another 29% European ancestry. It is striking that 65 of
northern Asian mitogenomes, i.e. ~41%, fall into 19 branches and subclades which can be considered as Siberian-specific
being found so far only in Siberian populations. From the coalescence analysis it is evident that the sequence divergence
of Siberian-specific subclades was relatively small, corresponding to only 0.6-9.5 kya (using the complete mtDNA rate) and
1–6 kya (coding region rate).
Conclusions: The phylogeographic analysis implies that the western Eurasian founders, giving rise to Siberian specific
subclades, may trace their ancestry only to the early and mid-Holocene, though some of genetic lineages may trace their
ancestry back to the end of Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We have not found the modern northern Asians to have western
Eurasian genetic components of sufficient antiquity to indicate traces of pre-LGM expansions.