title: Y chromosomes of 40% Chinese descend from three Neolithic super-grandfathers.
abstract: Demographic change of human populations is one of the central questions for delving into the past of human beings. To identify major population expansions related to male lineages, we sequenced 78 East Asian Y chromosomes at 3.9 Mbp of the non-recombining region, discovered >4,000 new SNPs, and identified many new clades. The relative divergence dates can be estimated much more precisely using a molecular clock. We found that all the Paleolithic divergences were binary; however, three strong star-like Neolithic expansions at ∼6 kya (thousand years ago) (assuming a constant substitution rate of 1×10(-9)/bp/year) indicates that ∼40% of modern Chinese are patrilineal descendants of only three super-grandfathers at that time. This observation suggests that the main patrilineal expansion in China occurred in the Neolithic Era and might be related to the development of agriculture.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chuan-Chao
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Xiang
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Dong
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lan-Hai
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Wen-Qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Epigenetics Laboratory, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Fei
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D059645:Mutation Rate; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013997:Time Factors