title: Genetic traces of east-to-west human expansion waves in Eurasia.
abstract: In this study, we describe the landscape of human demographic expansions in Eurasia using a large continental Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA dataset. Variation at these two uniparentally-inherited genetic systems retraces expansions that occurred in the past 60 ky, and shows a clear decrease of expansion ages from east to west Eurasia. To investigate the demographic events at the origin of this westward decrease of expansion ages, the estimated divergence ages between Eurasian populations are compared with the estimated expansion ages within each population. Both markers suggest that the demographic expansion diffused from east to west in Eurasia in a demic way, i.e., through migrations of individuals (and not just through diffusion of new technologies), highlighting the prominent role of eastern regions within Eurasia during Palaeolithic times.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Eco-Anthropologie, CNRS UMR 5145, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France. chaix@mnhn.fr
authors.forename: Raphaëlle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaix
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Austerlitz
authors.forename: Tatyana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hegay
authors.forename: Lluís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quintana-Murci
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heyer
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial