title: Early Austronesians: into and out of Taiwan.
abstract: A Taiwan origin for the expansion of the Austronesian languages and their speakers is well supported by linguistic and archaeological evidence. However, human genetic evidence is more controversial. Until now, there had been no ancient skeletal evidence of a potential Austronesian-speaking ancestor prior to the Taiwan Neolithic ~6,000 years ago, and genetic studies have largely ignored the role of genetic diversity within Taiwan as well as the origins of Formosans. We address these issues via analysis of a complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequence of an ~8,000-year-old skeleton from Liang Island (located between China and Taiwan) and 550 mtDNA genome sequences from 8 aboriginal (highland) Formosan and 4 other Taiwanese groups. We show that the Liangdao Man mtDNA sequence is closest to Formosans, provides a link to southern China, and has the most ancestral haplogroup E sequence found among extant Austronesian speakers. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis allows us to reconstruct a history of early Austronesians arriving in Taiwan in the north ~6,000 years ago, spreading rapidly to the south, and leaving Taiwan ~4,000 years ago to spread throughout Island Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and Oceania.
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Albert Min-Shan
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei City 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Qiaomei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany; DNA Analysis Laboratory, Natural Sciences Research Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delfin
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Mingkun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anthropology, National Tsinghua University, Hsinchu City 30013, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany. Electronic address: stoneking@eva.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stoneking
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung City 40402, Taiwan. Electronic address: ycko0406@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ying-Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Ko
mesh_terms: D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012863:Skeleton; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial