Y chromosome polymorphisms and the peopling of the Americas

• Main Author: Vuturo Brady, Jennifer Ann, 1966-
• Other Authors: Hammer, Michael F.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Arizona. 1996
• Subjects: Biology; Molecular; Anthropology; Physical; Genetics; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/278563

Polymorphisms at four paternally-inherited loci (DYS287, SPY1, DYS199 and DXYS156) were surveyed in twenty-seven populations (n = 997) world-wide to trace the origins of Native Americans. One of the haplotypes (6) is found at relatively high frequencies in all seven Native American populations representing two of the major linguistic divisions in the New World. The same haplotype was found at low frequencies in Siberian Eskimos and was absent from eleven other Asian populations. A second haplotype (7) was present at high frequencies in all the Native American and several Siberian populations. It was present at moderate frequencies in European populations and at low frequencies in several Asian populations. These data best support the hypothesis of a single male-mediated migration wave for the early peopling of the Americas, although a multi-wave hypothesis is not rejected.