POPULATION GENETICS. Genomic evidence for the Pleistocene and recent population history of Native Americans.

• Main Authors: Raghavan M, Steinrücken M, Harris K, Schiffels S, Rasmussen S, DeGiorgio M, Albrechtsen A, Valdiosera C, Ávila Arcos MC, Malaspinas AS, Eriksson A, Moltke I, Metspalu M, Homburger JR, Wall J, Cornejo OE, Moreno Mayar JV, Korneliussen TS, Pierre T, Rasmussen M, Campos PF, Damgaard Pde B, Allentoft ME, Lindo J, Metspalu E, Rodríguez Varela R, Mansilla J, Henrickson C, Seguin Orlando A, Malmström H, Stafford T. Jr, Shringarpure SS, Moreno Estrada A, Karmin M, Tambets K, Bergström A, Xue Y, Warmuth V, Friend AD, Singarayer J, Valdes P, Balloux F, Leboreiro I, Vera JL, Rangel Villalobos H, Davis LG, Heyer E, Zollikofer CP, Ponce de León MS, Smith CI, Grimes V, Pike KA, Deal M, Fuller BT, Arriaza B, Standen V, Luz MF, Ricaut F, Guidon N, Osipova L, Voevoda MI, Posukh OL, Balanovsky O, Lavryashina M, Bogunov Y, Khusnutdinova E, Gubina M, Balanovska E, Fedorova S, Litvinov S, Malyarchuk B, Derenko M, Mosher MJ, Archer D, Cybulski J, Petzelt B, Mitchell J, Worl R, Norman PJ, Parham P, Kemp BM, Kivisild T, Tyler Smith C, Sandhu MS, Crawford M, Villems R, Smith DG, Waters MR, Goebel T, Johnson JR, Malhi RS, Jakobsson M, Meltzer DJ, Manica A, Durbin R, Bustamante CD, Song YS, Nielsen R, Willerslev E., PETTENER, DAVIDE, LUISELLI, DONATA
• Other Authors: Ávila-Arcos MC, Moreno-Mayar JV, Rodríguez-Varela R, Seguin-Orlando A, Stafford T Jr, Moreno-Estrada A, Rangel-Villalobos H, Pettener D, Luiselli D
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Population genetic; Genetic history of Native American; Athabascans and Amerindians; Beringia; Siberia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11585/548815

How and when the Americas were populated remains contentious. Using ancient and modern genome-wide data, we found that the ancestors of all present-day Native Americans, including Athabascans and Amerindians, entered the Americas as a single migration wave from Siberia no earlier than 23 thousand years ago (ka) and after no more than an 8000-year isolation period in Beringia. After their arrival to the Americas, ancestral Native Americans diversified into two basal genetic branches around 13 ka, one that is now dispersed across North and South America and the other restricted to North America. Subsequent gene flow resulted in some Native Americans sharing ancestry with present-day East Asians (including Siberians) and, more distantly, Australo-Melanesians. Putative "Paleoamerican" relict populations, including the historical Mexican Pericúes and South American Fuego-Patagonians, are not directly related to modern Australo-Melanesians as suggested by the Paleoamerican Model.