0000000000219308
AUTHOR
Daniel Corach
Reconstructing the deep population history of Central and South America
We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 49 individuals forming four parallel time transects in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and the Southern Cone, each dating to at least ∼9,000 years ago. The common ancestral population radiated rapidly from just one of the two early branches that contributed to Native Americans today. We document two previously unappreciated streams of gene flow between North and South America. One affected the Central Andes by ∼4,200 years ago, while the other explains an affinity between the oldest North American genome associated with the Clovis culture and the oldest Central and South Americans from Chile, Brazil, and Belize. However, this was not the primary sou…
Online reference database of European Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes
The reference database of highly informative Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes (YHRD), available online at http://ystr.charite.de, represents the largest collection of male-specific genetic profiles currently available for European populations. By September 2000, YHRD contained 4688 9-locus (so-called "minimal") haplotypes, 40% of which have been extended further to include two additional loci. Establishment of YHRD has been facilitated by the joint efforts of 31 forensic and anthropological institutions. All contributing laboratories have agreed to standardize their Y-STR haplotyping protocols and to participate in a quality assurance exercise prior to the inclusion of any…
Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans
We sequenced the genomes of a ∼7,000-year-old farmer from Germany and eight ∼8,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analysed these and other ancient genomes1,2,3,4 with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians3, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry. We model these popula…
The EDNAP mitochondrial DNA population database (EMPOP) collaborative exercises: organisation, results and perspectives.
This paper presents an overview of the organisation and the results of the collaborative exercises (CE) of the European DNA Profiling (EDNAP) Group's mitochondrial DNA population database project (EMPOP). The aim of the collaborative exercises was to determine whether uniformity of mtDNA sequencing results could be achieved among different laboratories. These were asked to sequence either the complete mtDNA control region or the two hypervariable regions HVI (16024-16365) and HVII (73-340) from DNA extracts, buccal swabs or bloodstains, proceeding in accordance with the protocol and strategies used in each individual laboratory. The results of the collaborative exercises were employed to id…