The mitogenome of a 35,000-year-old Homo sapiens from Europe supports a Palaeolithic back-migration to Africa

Abstract

After the dispersal of modern humans (Homo sapiens) Out of Africa, hominins with a similar morphology to that of present-day humans initiated the gradual demographic expansion into Eurasia. The mitogenome (33-fold coverage) of the Peştera Muierii 1 individual (PM1) from Romania (35 ky cal BP) we present in this article corresponds fully to Homo sapiens, whilst exhibiting a mosaic of morphological features related to both modern humans and Neandertals. We have identified the PM1 mitogenome as a basal haplogroup U6*, not previously found in any ancient or present-day humans. The derived U6 haplotypes are predominantly found in present-day North-Western African populations. Concomitantly, those found in Europe have been attributed to recent gene-flow from North Africa. The presence of the basal haplogroup U6* in South East Europe (Romania) at 35 ky BP confirms a Eurasian origin of the U6 mitochondrial lineage. Consequently, we propose that the PM1 lineage is an offshoot to South East Europe that can be traced to the Early Upper Paleolithic back migration from Western Asia to North Africa, during which the U6 lineage diversified, until the emergence of the present-day U6 African lineages.

Mitochondrial ancestry of medieval individuals carelessly interred in a multiple burial from southeastern Romania

“…Its highest frequencies across the European continent are restricted to the Iberian and Italian peninsulas. This particular mitochondrial variant was not found in the published ancient mitogenomes, but other U6a haplotypes were previously reported for six Taforalt individuals attesting their preHolocene presence in the Maghreb 36 and basal haplogroup U6 has been identified in a 35,000-year-old Homo sapiens from Romania (Muierii cave) 37 .…”

The genetic composition of Shina population from Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan based on mtDNA analyses

“…The haplogroup 'U' possible place of origin is Western Asia around 46,500 years ago (Behar et al 2012). It has different sub-clades U1-U9 which are generally conveyed crosswise over Northern and Eastern Europe, Central, Western and South Asia as well as North Africa (Hervella et al 2016). The 'HV' is the ancestral haplogroup of 'H', i.e.…”

Ancient Admixture into Africa from the ancestors of non-Africans

“…Evidence has been mounting for multiple migrations into the Eurasian continent, possibly mediated by climatic drivers [36,38]. Eurasian backflow during the Holocene has been well established [24,25], but earlier migrations have also been proposed before based on observations of the spatial distribution of Y chromosome and mitochondrial haplogroups [1,3,4,8,33,42,51]. At the same time, evidence has been mounting for extreme heterogeneity in the history of sub-Saharan Africans, with several unsampled population theorised to have contributed at various points in the past [49,53,55].…”