Analysis of ancient human mitochondrial DNA from the Xiaohe cemetery: insights into prehistoric population movements in the Tarim Basin, China

BMC Genetics

Hui Zhou⁵  Hong Zhu⁵  Idelisi Abuduresule²  Wenying Li²  Yongbin Zhao⁴  Hongjie Li⁵  Erika Hagelberg¹  Chao Ning³  Chunxiang Li⁵ 

[1] Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, 0316, Norway;Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute, Ürümchi 830000, P. R. China;College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, P. R. China;Life Science College, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, P. R.China;Ancient DNA Laboratory, Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China

关键词: Mitochondrial DNA;    Tarim Basin;    Human populations;    Mummies;    Ancient DNA;   

Others  :  1218916
DOI  :  10.1186/s12863-015-0237-5

 received in 2015-04-20, accepted in 2015-06-22,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

The Tarim Basin in western China, known for its amazingly well-preserved mummies, has been for thousands of years an important crossroad between the eastern and western parts of Eurasia. Despite its key position in communications and migration, and highly diverse peoples, languages and cultures, its prehistory is poorly understood. To shed light on the origin of the populations of the Tarim Basin, we analysed mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms in human skeletal remains excavated from the Xiaohe cemetery, used by the local community between 4000 and 3500 years before present, and possibly representing some of the earliest settlers.

Results

Xiaohe people carried a wide variety of maternal lineages, including West Eurasian lineages H, K, U5, U7, U2e, T, R*, East Eurasian lineages B, C4, C5, D, G2a and Indian lineage M5.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that the people of the Tarim Basin had a diverse maternal ancestry, with origins in Europe, central/eastern Siberia and southern/western Asia. These findings, together with information on the cultural context of the Xiaohe cemetery, can be used to test contrasting hypotheses of route of settlement into the Tarim Basin.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Li et al.

【 图 表 】

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Figure 1.

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