Authors: Hui Li Ying Huang Laura F Mustavich Fan Zhang JingZe Tan LingE Wang Ji Qian MengHe Gao Li Jin
Publish Date: 2007/07/27
Volume: 122, Issue: 3-4, Pages: 383-388
Abstract
The ability to extract mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from ancient remains has enabled the study of ancient DNA a legitimate field for over 20 years now Recently Y chromosome genotyping has begun to be applied to ancient DNA The Y chromosome haplogroup in East Asia has since caught the attention of molecular anthropologists as it is one of the most ethnicrelated genetic markers of the region In this paper the Y chromosome haplogroup of DNA from ancient East Asians was examined in order to genetically link them to modern populations Fiftysix human remains were sampled from five archaeological sites primarily along the Yangtze River Strict criteria were followed to eliminate potential contamination Five SNPs from the Y chromosome were successfully amplified from most of the samples with at least 625 of the samples belonging to the O haplogroup similar to the frequency for modern East Asian populations A high frequency of O1 was found in Liangzhu Culture sites around the mouth of the Yangtze River linking this culture to modern Austronesian and Daic populations A rare haplogroup O3d was found at the Daxi site in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River indicating that the Daxi people might be the ancestors of modern HmongMien populations which show only small traces of O3d today Noticeable genetic segregation was observed among the prehistoric cultures demonstrating the genetic foundation of the multiple origins of the Chinese Civilization
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