Distribution of Y chromosomes among Native North Americans: A study of Athapaskan population history

• Published in: American Journal of Physical Anthropology
• Main Authors: Malhi, Ripan Singh, Gonzalez-Oliver, Angelica, Schroeder, Kari Britt, Kemp, Brian M, Greenberg, Jonathan A., Dobrowski, Solomon Z., Smith, David Glenn, Resendez, Andres, Karafet, Tatiana, Hammer, Michael, Zegura, Stephen, Brovko, Tatiana
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Article; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2584155; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18618732; https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20883

In this study 231 Y chromosomes from 12 populations were typed for four diagnostic SNPs to determine haplogroup membership and 43 Y chromosomes from three of these populations were typed for eight Simple Tandem Repeats (STRs) to determine haplotypes. These data were combined with previously published data, amounting to 724 Y chromosomes from 26 populations in North America, and analyzed to investigate the geographic distribution of Y chromosomes among Native North Americans and to test the Southern Athapaskan migration hypothesis. The results suggest that European admixture has significantly altered the distribution of Y chromosomes in North America and because of this caution should be taken when inferring prehistoric population events in North America using Y chromosome data alone. However, consistent with studies of other genetic systems, we are still able to identify close relationships among Y chromosomes in Athapaskan from the Subarctic and the Southwest, suggesting that a small number of proto-Apachean migrants from the Subarctic founded the Southwest Athapaskan populations.