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Reconstructing Native American population history

Authors :
Reich, David
Patterson, Nick
Campbell, Desmond
Tandon, Arti
Mazieres, Stéphane
Ray, Nicolas
Parra, Maria V
Rojas, Winston
Duque, Constanza
Mesa, Natalia
García, Luis F
Triana, Omar
Blair, Silvia
Maestre, Amanda
Dib, Juan C
Bravi, Claudio M
Bailliet, Graciela
Corach, Daniel
Hünemeier, Tábita
Bortolini, Maria Cátira
Salzano, Francisco M
Petzl-Erler, María Luiza
Acuña-Alonzo, Victor
Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos
Canizales-Quinteros, Samuel
Tusié-Luna, Teresa
Riba, Laura
Rodríguez-Cruz, Maricela
Lopez-Alarcón, Mardia
Coral-Vazquez, Ramón
Canto-Cetina, Thelma
Silva-Zolezzi, Irma
Fernandez-Lopez, Juan Carlos
Contreras, Alejandra V
Jimenez-Sanchez, Gerardo
Gómez-Vázquez, Maria José
Molina, Julio
Carracedo, Angel
Salas, Antonio
Gallo, Carla
Poletti, Giovanni
Witonsky, David B
Alkorta-Aranburu, Gorka
Sukernik, Rem I
Osipova, Ludmila
Fedorova, Sardana A
Vasquez, René
Villena, Mercedes
Moreau, Claudia
Barrantes, Ramiro
Pauls, David
Excoffier, Laurent
Bedoya, Gabriel
Rothhammer, Francisco
Dugoujon, Jean-Michel
Larrouy, Georges
Klitz, William
Labuda, Damian
Kidd, Judith
Kidd, Kenneth
Di Rienzo, Anna
Freimer, Nelson B
Price, Alkes L
Ruiz-Linares, Andrés
Source :
Nature, vol 488, iss 7411
Publication Year :
2012
Publisher :
eScholarship, University of California, 2012.

Abstract

The peopling of the Americas has been the subject of extensive genetic, archaeological and linguistic research; however, central questions remain unresolved. One contentious issue is whether the settlement occurred by means of a single migration or multiple streams of migration from Siberia. The pattern of dispersals within the Americas is also poorly understood. To address these questions at a higher resolution than was previously possible, we assembled data from 52 Native American and 17 Siberian groups genotyped at 364,470 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Here we show that Native Americans descend from at least three streams of Asian gene flow. Most descend entirely from a single ancestral population that we call 'First American'. However, speakers of Eskimo-Aleut languages from the Arctic inherit almost half their ancestry from a second stream of Asian gene flow, and the Na-Dene-speaking Chipewyan from Canada inherit roughly one-tenth of their ancestry from a third stream. We show that the initial peopling followed a southward expansion facilitated by the coast, with sequential population splits and little gene flow after divergence, especially in South America. A major exception is in Chibchan speakers on both sides of the Panama isthmus, who have ancestry from both North and South America.

Details

Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nature, vol 488, iss 7411
Accession number :
edsair.od.......325..9ee18977ab5148f9123ecfe74777529c