Genetic Structure of a 2,500-Year-Old Human Population in China and Its Spatiotemporal Changes

Abstract

To examine temporal changes in population genetic structure, we compared the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of three populations that lived in the same location, Linzi, China, in different periods: 2,500 years ago (the Spring-Autumn era), 2,000 years ago (the Han era), and the present day. Two indices were used to compare the genetic differences: the frequency distributions of the radiating haplotype groups and the genetic distances among the populations. The results indicate that the genetic backgrounds of the three populations are distinct from each other. Inconsistent with the geographical distribution, the 2,500-year-old Linzi population showed greater genetic similarity to present-day European populations than to present-day east Asian populations. The 2, 000-year-old Linzi population had features that were intermediate between the present-day European/2,500-year-old Linzi populations and the present-day east Asian populations. These relationships suggest the occurrence of drastic spatiotemporal changes in the genetic structure of Chinese people during the past 2,500 years.

Admixture, migrations, and dispersals in Central Asia: evidence from maternal DNA lineages

“…Several facts point to the presence of western peoples far east in Asia, such as an extinct Indo-European language (Tocharian) spoken during the latter half of the first millennium in Chinese Turkestan, the presence of mummified bodies with European facial traits in the Xinjiang region, the description of west Eurasian mitochondrial DNA lineages in Central Asia, 3 and the suggested European affiliation of mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient bones in an Eastern Chinese site. 4 Besides Scythians and Sarmatians, other peoples left their influence in the area: Greeks, Chinese, Turkic tribes such as the Huns, and the Avars, Arabs, and others.…”

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Yayoi period human skeletal remains from the Doigahama site

“…73,74 Many previous studies have been carried out on the control region sequence types of ancient populations that existed geographically close to the Doigahama Yayoi population, such as the northern Kyushu Yayoi and the ancient Chinese populations. 52,[75][76][77] In this study, we analyzed the control region for examining the genetic structure of the Doigahama Yayoi population. As a preliminary analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of the Doigahama Yayoi population, the HVI sequence types obtained in this study were compared with those of the northern Kyushu Yayoi, modern Japanese and ancient Chinese populations that have previously been reported by other researchers, and a phylogenetic network was constructed to outline the phylogenetic characteristics of the Doigahama Yayoi population.…”

“…76 The segments from the 35 specimens from the Kuma-Nishioda Yayoi site in northern Kyushu 52 and 50 modern Japanese specimens 57 were added as objects of comparison in the Japanese archipelago. Moreover, segments from 13 specimens from the 2500-year-old Linzi population (Shandong province, China) 77 and 34 specimens from the 2000-yearold Linzi population 75 were added as East-Asian populations contemporary with the Yayoi populations (Figure 2).…”

“…On the other hand, the low frequencies of group IV in the modern East-Asian populations were reported by Wang et al 77 In addition, 76 The numbers on the branches are the nucleotide positions where base substitutions have occurred (add 16 000 to these numbers to obtain the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS)). Denotes sequence types for the 2500-year-old Linzi population.…”

“…Denotes sequence types for the 2500-year-old Linzi population. 77 Denotes sequence types for the 2000-year-old Linzi population. 37 J Denotes sequence types for the modern Japanese population.…”