title: Inferring the population expansions in peopling of Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Extensive studies in different fields have been performed to reconstruct the prehistory of populations in the Japanese archipelago. Estimates the ancestral population dynamics based on Japanese molecular sequences can extend our understanding about the colonization of Japan and the ethnogenesis of modern Japanese.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We applied Bayesian skyline plot (BSP) with a dataset based on 952 Japanese mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes to depict the female effective population size (N(ef)) through time for the total Japanese and each of the major mtDNA haplogroups in Japanese. Our results revealed a rapid N(ef) growth since ∼5 thousand years ago had left ∼72% Japanese mtDNA lineages with a salient signature. The BSP for the major mtDNA haplogroups indicated some different demographic history.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested that the rapid population expansion acted as a major force in shaping current maternal pool of Japanese. It supported a model for population dynamics in Japan in which the prehistoric population growth initiated in the Middle Jomon Period experienced a smooth and swift transition from Jomon to Yayoi, and then continued through the Yayoi Period. The confounding demographic backgrounds of different mtDNA haplogroups could also have some implications for some related studies in future.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Min-Sheng
authors: MS
authors: Peng
authors: Ya-Ping
authors: YP
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D011157:Population Dynamics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial