Traces of archaic mitochondrial lineages persist in Austronesian-speaking Formosan populations.
Genetic affinities between aboriginal Taiwanese and populations from Oceania and Southeast Asia have previously been explored through analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosomal DNA, and human leukocyte antigen loci. Recent genetic studies have supported the "slow boat" and "entangled bank" models according to which the Polynesian migration can be seen as an expansion from Melanesia without any major direct genetic thread leading back to its initiation from Taiwan. We assessed mtDNA variation in 640 individuals from nine tribes of the central mountain ranges and east coast regions of Taiwan. In contrast to the Han populations, the tribes showed a low frequency of haplogroups D4 and G, and an absence of haplogroups A, C, Z, M9, and M10. Also, more than 85% of the maternal lineages were nested within haplogroups B4, B5a, F1a, F3b, E, and M7. Although indicating a common origin of the populations of insular Southeast Asia and Oceania, most mtDNA lineages in Taiwanese aboriginal populations are grouped separately from those found in China and the Taiwan general (Han) population, suggesting a prevalence in the Taiwanese aboriginal gene pool of its initial late Pleistocene settlers. Interestingly, from complete mtDNA sequencing information, most B4a lineages were associated with three coding region substitutions, defining a new subclade, B4a1a, that endorses the origin of Polynesian migration from Taiwan. Coalescence times of B4a1a were 13.2 +/- 3.8 thousand years (or 9.3 +/- 2.5 thousand years in Papuans and Polynesians). Considering the lack of a common specific Y chromosomal element shared by the Taiwanese aboriginals and Polynesians, the mtDNA evidence provided here is also consistent with the suggestion that the proto-Oceanic societies would have been mainly matrilocal.
Transfusion Medicine Laboratory, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. jtrejaut@ms1.mmh.org.tw
Jean A
JA
Trejaut
Toomas
T
Kivisild
Jun Hun
JH
Loo
Chien Liang
CL
Lee
Chun Lin
CL
He
Chia Jung
CJ
Hsu
Zheng Yan
ZY
Lee
Zheng Yuan
ZY
Li
Marie
M
Lin
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005202:Asia, Eastern / Q000208:ethnology; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D044349:Oceania; D010802:Phylogeny; D011114:Polynesia / Q000208:ethnology; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan / Q000208:ethnology
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial