Y-chromosome analysis reveals genetic divergence and new founding native lineages in Athapaskan- and Eskimoan-speaking populations

For decades, the peopling of the Americas has been explored through the analysis of uniparentally inherited genetic systems in Native American populations and the comparison of these genetic data with current linguistic groupings. In northern North America, two language families predominate: Eskimo-...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 109; no. 22; pp. 8471 - 8476
Main Authors:	Dulik, Matthew C, Owings, Amanda C, Gaieski, Jill B, Vilar, Miguel G, Andre, Alestine, Lennie, Crystal, Mackenzie, Mary Adele, Kritsch, Ingrid, Snowshoe, Sharon, Wright, Ruth, Martin, James, Gibson, Nancy, Andrews, Thomas D, Schurr, Theodore G
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States National Academy of Sciences 29-05-2012 National Acad Sciences
Subjects:	American Indians Biological Sciences Canada Chromosomes Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19 - genetics Chromosomes, Human, Y - genetics data collection Emigration and Immigration Ethnolinguistics Evolutionary genetics Gene Frequency Genetic Variation Genetics Genetics, Population - methods Genotype Genotype & phenotype Geography Haplotypes Haplotypes - genetics Human genetics Humans Indians, North American - genetics Inuits - genetics loci Male microsatellite repeats Microsatellite Repeats - genetics Mitochondrial DNA Mutation Mutation Rate Native Americans Native North Americans Phylogeny Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Population genetics single nucleotide polymorphism United States history Y chromosome Northwest Territories Canada
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	For decades, the peopling of the Americas has been explored through the analysis of uniparentally inherited genetic systems in Native American populations and the comparison of these genetic data with current linguistic groupings. In northern North America, two language families predominate: Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene. Although the genetic evidence from nuclear and mtDNA loci suggest that speakers of these language families share a distinct biological origin, this model has not been examined using data from paternally inherited Y chromosomes. To test this hypothesis and elucidate the migration histories of Eskimoan- and Athapaskan-speaking populations, we analyzed Y-chromosomal data from Inuvialuit, Gwich’in, and Tłich populations living in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Over 100 biallelic markers and 19 chromosome short tandem repeats (STRs) were genotyped to produce a high-resolution dataset of Y chromosomes from these groups. Among these markers is an SNP discovered in the Inuvialuit that differentiates them from other Aboriginal and Native American populations. The data suggest that Canadian Eskimoan- and Athapaskan-speaking populations are genetically distinct from one another and that the formation of these groups was the result of two population expansions that occurred after the initial movement of people into the Americas. In addition, the population history of Athapaskan speakers is complex, with the Tłich being distinct from other Athapaskan groups. The high-resolution biallelic data also make clear that Y-chromosomal diversity among the first Native Americans was greater than previously recognized.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118760109 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Edited* by Francisco Mauro Salzano, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and approved April 10, 2012 (received for review November 21, 2011) Author contributions: M.C.D., J.B.G., I.K., S.S., J.M., N.G., T.D.A., and T.G.S. designed research; M.C.D., A.C.O., and T.G.S. performed research; J.B.G., A.A., C.L., M.A.M., R.W., T.G.S., and T.G.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; M.C.D. and T.G.S. analyzed data; and M.C.D., A.C.O., J.B.G., M.G.V., and T.G.S. wrote the paper.
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.1118760109