Abstract
By using 19 Y chromosome biallelic markers and 3 Y chromosome microsatellite markers, we analyzed the genetic structure of 31 indigenous Sino-Tibetan speaking populations (607 individuals) currently residing in East, Southeast, and South Asia. Our results showed that a T to C mutation at locus M122 is highly prevalent in almost all of the Sino-Tibetan populations, implying a strong genetic affinity among populations in the same language family. Furthermore, the extremely high frequency of H8, a haplotype derived from M122C, in the Sino-Tibetan speaking populations in the Himalayas including Tibet and northeast India indicated a strong bottleneck effect that occurred during a westward and then southward migration of the founding population of Tibeto-Burmans. We, therefore, postulate that the ancient people, who lived in the upper-middle Yellow River basin about 10,000 years ago and developed one of the earliest Neolithic cultures in East Asia, were the ancestors of modern Sino-Tibetan populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bianchi NO, Catanesi CI, Bailliet G, Martinez-Marignac VL, Bravi CM, Vidal-Rioja LB, Herrera RJ, et al (1998) Characterization of ancestral and derived Y-chromosomal haplotypes of New World native populations. Am J Hum Genet 63: 1862–1871
Cavalli-Sforza LL, Piazza MP (1994) The history and geography of human genes. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Chu JY, Huang W, Kuang SQ, Wang JM, Xu JJ, Chu ZT, Yang ZQ, et al (1998) Genetic relationship of populations in China. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 11763–11768
Du RF, Xiao CJ (1997) Genetic distance between Chinese populations calculated on gene frequencies of 38 loci. Science in China (Series C) 40:613–621
Etler DA (1996) The fossil evidence for human evolution in Asia. Annu Rev Anthropol 25: 275–301
Grimes BF (ed) (1999) The ethnologue: languages of the world. Summer Institute of Linguistics, http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/
Hammer MF, Spurdle AB, Karafet T, Bonner MR, Wood ET, Novelletto A, Malaspina P, et al (1997) The geographic distribution of human Y chromosome variation. Genetics 145: 787–805
Heyer E, Puymirat J, Dieltjes P, Bakker E, Knijff P (1997) Estimating Y chromosome specific microsatellite mutation frequencies using deep rooting pedigrees. Hum Mol Genet 6: 799–803
Jobling MA, Tyler-Smith C (1995) Fathers and sons: the Y chromosome and human evolution. Trends Genet 11: 449–455
Karafet TM, Zegura SL, Posukh O, Osipova L, Bergen A, Long J, Goldman D, et al (1999) Ancestral Asian sources(s) of new world Y-chromosome founder haplotypes. Am J Hum Genet 64: 817–831
Kayser M, Caglia A, Corach D, Fretwell N, Gehrig C, Graziosi G, Heidorn F, et al (1997) Evaluation of Y-chromosomal STRs: a multicenter study. Int J Legal Med 110: 125–133
Kolman CJ, Sambuughin N, Bermingham E (1996) Mitochondrial DNA analysis of Mongolian populations and implications for the origin of New World founders. Genetics 142: 1321–1334
Lell JT, Brown MD, Schurr TG, Sukernik RI, Starikovskaya YB, Torroni A, Moore LG, et al (1997) Y chromosome polymorphisms in native American and Siberian populations: identification of native American Y chromosome haplotypes. Hum Genet 100: 536–543
Martisoff JA (1991) Sino-Tibetan linguistics: present state and future prospects. Annu Rev Anthropol 20: 469–504
Qian YP, Qian BZ, Su B, Yu JK, Ke YH, Chu ZT, Shi L, et al (2000) Multiple origins of Tibetan Y chromosomes. Hum Genet 106: 453–454
Su B, Xiao JH, Underhill P, Deka R, Zhang WL, Akey J, Huang W, et al (1999) Y Chromosome evidence for a northward migration of modern humans in East Asia during the last ice age. Am J Hum Genet 65: 1718–1724
Su B, Jin L, Underhill P, Martinson J, Saha N, McGarvey ST, Shriver MD, et al (2000) Polynesian origins: insights from the Y chromosome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97: 8225–8228
Underhill PA, Jin L, Zemans R, Oefner PA, Cavalli-Sforza LL (1996) A pre-Columbian human Y chromosome-specific transition and its implications for human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93: 196–200
Underhill PA, Jin L, Lin AA, Mehdi SQ, Jenkins T, Vollrath D, Davis RW, et al (1997) Detection of numerous Y chromosome biallelic polymorphisms by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography. Genome Res 7: 996–1005
Underhill PA, Shen P, Lin AA, Jin L, Passarino G, Yang WH, Kauffman E, et al (2000) Y chromosome sequence variation and the history of human populations. Nat Genet 26: 358–361
Vollrath D, Foote S, Hilton A, Brown LG, Beer-Romero P, Bogan JS, Page DC (1992) The human Y chromosome: a 43-interval map based on naturally occurring deletions. Science 258: 52–59
Wang WSY (1995) The ancestry of Chinese: retrospect and prospect. J Chinese Linguistics, monograph no. 8
Wang WSY (1996) Genes, dates, and the writing system. Intl Rev Chinese Linguistics 1: 45–46
Wang WSY (1998) In the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age peoples of Eastern Central Asia. University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications, pp 508–534
Wang ZH (1994) History of nationalities in China. China Social Science Press
Weng Z, Yuan Y, Du R (1989) Analysis of the genetic structure of human populations in China. Acta Anthropol Sin 8: 261–268 (in Chinese)
Wu XZ, Poirier FE (1995) Human evolution in China. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Zhao T, Zhang G, Zhu Y, Zheng S, Liu D, Chen Q, Zhang X (1986) The distribution of immunoglobulin Gm allotypes in forty Chinese populations. Acta Anthropol Sin 6: 1–8 (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Su, B., Xiao, C., Deka, R. et al. Y chromosome haplotypes reveal prehistorical migrations to the Himalayas. Hum Genet 107, 582–590 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004390000406
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004390000406