Migration and interaction in a contact zone: mtDNA variation among Bantu-speakers in southern Africa

Abstract

Bantu speech communities expanded over large parts of sub

The role of matrilineality in shaping patterns of Y chromosome and mtDNA sequence variation in southwestern Angola

“…Secondly, the levels of intrapopulation diversity in the Bantu-speaking peoples from the Namib were found to be consistently higher for mtDNA than for the MSY, reflecting the marked association between the Bantu expansion and the relatively young MSY E-M180 haplogroup, which has no parallel in mtDNA [27,40]. In contrast, the !Xun have a more diverse MSY haplogroup composition, combining deeply rooted lineages and younger clades obtained through recent admixture.…”

Genetics and Demographic History of the B antu

“…The only Khoe-Kwadi population that exhibits a pastoralist subsistence is the Nama from Namibia, who do not present exceptional levels of Bantu admixture (Figures 4 and 5b, c). Admixture in southern Africa is of course also reflected in the patterns of introgression of indigenous genetic material into the incoming Bantu populations (Figures 5d), although in this case it is difficult to distinguish the respective contributions of Kx'a, Tuu or Khoe-Kwadi groups (Barbieri et al, 2014b). This introgression is obviously female mediated as the frequency of indigenous-related mtDNA lineages in southern Bantu groups is much higher than NRY (Figure 5e and f).…”

Carriers of mitochondrial DNA macrohaplogroup L3 basic lineages migrated back to Africa from Asia around 70,000 years ago

“…This sequence, particularly characterized by the presence of an insertion of 11 nucleotides at the 16029 position in the control region, has an exact match with an L1 isolate from the Dominican Republic (DQ341059). Its closest relatives in Africa, although without that insertion, have been found in Angola (KJ185814) and Zambia (KJ185662) among Bantu-speakers [70]. The control region of this AR1252 isolate was previously published (KP960821).…”

“…It is expected that L sequences detected in the Canary Islands have their closest relatives in the African continent. Indeed, this is the case, for instance, for the L3d1b3 (Go764) sequence from La Gomera island that shares tip transitions 14040 and 16256 with an Ovimbundu isolate (KJ185837) from Angola [70]. However, unexpectedly, there are Canarian sequences as TF0005, allocated into the L3f1b subclade, that has its closest relatives in the Iberian Peninsula, sharing the 8994 transition with two Asturian L3f1b sequences (KJ959229, KJ959230) [71].…”

“…It is worth mentioning that while ancestral southern African Khoesan-speaking population still maintain high frequencies of primitive L0d and k lineages [94, 106, 127, 128], and that in the hunter-gatherer populations of central-western Africa the L1c haplogroup is dominant [108, 109], L5 in eastern Africa has today only a marginal presence [114, 129], most probably due to its displacement produced by more recent waves of better adapted incomers. The presence of L5 in southern Africa and eastern Mbuti pygmies [70, 109, 118, 127] is the result of later migrations. Most probably, next split, around 100 kya, also occurred in Central Africa resulting in sister clusters L2 and L3’4’6 that, respectively, produced initial westward and eastward expansions (Figure 1a).…”