Premium
X‐chromosome lineages and the settlement of the Americas
Author(s) -
Bourgeois Stephane,
Yotova Vania,
Wang Sijia,
Bourtoumieu Sylvie,
Moreau Claudia,
Michalski Roman,
Moisan JeanPaul,
Hill Kim,
Hurtado Ana M.,
RuizLinares Andres,
Labuda Damian
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.21084
Subject(s) - haplotype , beringia , biology , population , founder effect , population bottleneck , genetics , genetic structure , evolutionary biology , genetic drift , gene pool , genetic diversity , genetic variation , microsatellite , genotype , allele , gene , ecology , demography , arctic , sociology
Most genetic studies on the origins of Native Americans have examined data from mtDNA and Y‐chromosome DNA. To complement these studies and to broaden our understanding of the origin of Native American populations, we present an analysis of 1,873 X‐chromosomes representing Native American ( n = 438) and other continental populations ( n = 1,435). We genotyped 36 polymorphic sites, forming an informative haplotype within an 8‐kb DNA segment spanning exon 44 of the dystrophin gene. The data reveal continuity from a common Eurasian ancestry between Europeans, Siberians, and Native Americans. However, the loss of two haplotypes frequent in Eurasia (18.8 and 7%) and the rise in frequency of a third haplotype rare elsewhere, indicate a major population bottleneck in the peopling of the Americas. Although genetic drift appears to have played a greater role in the genetic differentiation of Native Americans than in the latitudinally distributed Eurasians, we also observe a signal of a differentiated ancestry of southern and northern populations that cannot be simply explained by the serial southward dilution of genetic diversity. It is possible that the distribution of X‐chromosome lineages reflects the genetic structure of the population of Beringia, itself issued from founder effects and a source of subsequent southern colonization(s). Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.