Ancient DNA indicates human population shifts and admixture in northern and southern China

Human genetic history in East Asia is poorly understood. To clarify population relationships, we obtained genome wide data from 26 ancient individuals from northern and southern East Asia spanning 9,500-300 years ago. Genetic differentiation was higher in the past than the present, reflecting a majo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2020-07, Vol.369 (6501), p.282-288
Main Authors: Yang, Melinda A, Fan, Xuechun, Sun, Bo, Chen, Chungyu, Lang, Jianfeng, Ko, Ying-Chin, Tsang, Cheng-Hwa, Chiu, Hunglin, Wang, Tianyi, Bao, Qingchuan, Wu, Xiaohong, Hajdinjak, Mateja, Ko, Albert Min-Shan, Ding, Manyu, Cao, Peng, Yang, Ruowei, Liu, Feng, Nickel, Birgit, Dai, Qingyan, Feng, Xiaotian, Zhang, Lizhao, Sun, Chengkai, Ning, Chao, Zeng, Wen, Zhao, Yongsheng, Zhang, Ming, Gao, Xing, Cui, Yinqiu, Reich, David, Stoneking, Mark, Fu, Qiaomei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Asian people
Asians
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Gene flow
Genetics
Genomes
Human motion
Human populations
Individualized Instruction
Life Sciences
Neolithic
Nucleotide sequence
Populations
Stone Age
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Summary:Human genetic history in East Asia is poorly understood. To clarify population relationships, we obtained genome wide data from 26 ancient individuals from northern and southern East Asia spanning 9,500-300 years ago. Genetic differentiation was higher in the past than the present, reflecting a major episode of admixture involving northern East Asian ancestry spreading across southern East Asia after the Neolithic, transforming the genetic ancestry of southern China. Mainland southern East Asian and Taiwan Strait island samples from the Neolithic show clear connections with modern and ancient samples with Austronesian-related ancestry, supporting a southern China origin for proto-Austronesians. Connections among Neolithic coastal groups from Siberia and Japan to Vietnam indicate that migration and gene flow played an important role in the prehistory of coastal Asia.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aba0909