Ancient DNA evidence supports the contribution of Di-Qiang people to the han Chinese gene pool.
Han Chinese is the largest ethnic group in the world. During its development, it gradually integrated with many neighboring populations. To uncover the origin of the Han Chinese, ancient DNA analysis was performed on the remains of 46 humans (1700 to 1900 years ago) excavated from the Taojiazhai site in Qinghai province, northwest of China, where the Di-Qiang populations had previously lived. In this study, eight mtDNA haplogroups (A, B, D, F, M*, M10, N9a, and Z) and one Y-chromosome haplogroup (O3) were identified. All analyses show that the Taojiazhai population presents close genetic affinity to Tibeto-Burman populations (descendants of Di-Qiang populations) and Han Chinese, suggesting that the Di-Qiang populations may have contributed to the Han Chinese genetic pool.
Zhao
Yong-Bin
YB
Laboratory of Ancient DNA, Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.
Li
Hong-Jie
HJ
Li
Sheng-Nan
SN
Yu
Chang-Chun
CC
Gao
Shi-Zhu
SZ
Xu
Zhi
Z
Jin
Li
L
Zhu
Hong
H
Zhou
Hui
H
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D005788:Gene Pool; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D014070:Tooth / Q000737:chemistry
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial