Open AccessTracing the Genetic Legacy of the Tibetan Empire in the Balti
Author(s) -
Xingyan Yang,
Allah Rakha,
Wei Chen,
Juzhi Hou,
Xuebin Qi,
Quan-Kuan Shen,
ShanShan Dai,
Xierzhatijiang Sulaiman,
Najmudinov Tojiddin Abdulloevich,
Manilova Elena Afanasevna,
Khudoidodov Behruz Ibrohimovich,
Xi Chen,
Weikang Yang,
Atif Adnan,
Ruo Zhao,
Yong-Gang Yao,
Bing Su,
MinSheng Peng,
Yaping Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
molecular biology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.637
H-Index - 218
eISSN - 1537-1719
pISSN - 0737-4038
DOI - 10.1093/molbev/msaa313
Subject(s) - empire , conquest , biology , biological dispersal , demographic history , ancient dna , ancient history , indus , genealogy , evolutionary biology , demography , history , genetics , genetic variation , gene , population , paleontology , sociology , structural basin
The rise and expansion of Tibetan Empire in the 7th to 9th centuries AD affected the course of history across East Eurasia, but the genetic impact of Tibetans on surrounding populations remains undefined. We sequenced 60 genomes for four populations from Pakistan and Tajikistan to explore their demographic history. We showed that the genomes of Balti people from Baltistan comprised 22.6–26% Tibetan ancestry. We inferred a single admixture event and dated it to about 39–21 generations ago, a period that postdated the conquest of Baltistan by the ancient Tibetan Empire. The analyses of mitochondrial DNA, Y, and X chromosome data indicated that both ancient Tibetan males and females were involved in the male-biased dispersal. Given the fact that the Balti people adopted Tibetan language and culture in history, our study suggested the impact of Tibetan Empire on Baltistan involved dominant cultural and minor demic diffusion.