title: Genetic structure among Fijian island populations.
abstract: We examined nine Y chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segment 1 region in the Fijian island populations of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Kadavu, the Lau islands and Rotuma. We found significant genetic structure among these populations for the Y-STRs, both with and without the Rotumans, but not for the mtDNA. We also found that all five populations exhibited the sex-biased admixture associated with areas settled by Austronesian-speaking people, with paternal lineages more strongly associated with Melanesian populations and maternal lineages more strongly associated with Polynesian populations. We also found that the Rotumans in the north and the Lau Islanders in the east were genetically more similar to Polynesian populations than were the other Fijians, but only for the mtDNA. For the Y-STRs, the Rotumans and the Lau Islanders were genetically as similar to Melanesian populations as were the other three populations. Of the five populations, the Rotumans were the most different in almost every regard. Although past genetic studies treated the Fijians as being genetically homogenous despite known geographic, phenotypic, cultural and linguistic variation, our findings show significant genetic variation and a need for a closer examination of individual island populations within Fiji, particularly the Rotumans, in order to better understand the process of the peopling of Fiji and of the surrounding regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
authors.forename: Gerhard P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Shipley
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
authors.forename: Diana A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tyagi
authors.affiliation: Center for Global and International Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
authors.forename: Geetanjali
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Redd
mesh_terms: D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005367:Fiji; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D062312:Islands; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial