title: 60,000 years of interactions between Central and Eastern Africa documented by major African mitochondrial haplogroup L2.
abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup L2 originated in Western Africa but is nowadays spread across the entire continent. L2 movements were previously postulated to be related to the Bantu expansion, but L2 expansions eastwards probably occurred much earlier. By reconstructing the phylogeny of L2 (44 new complete sequences) we provide insights on the complex net of within-African migrations in the last 60 thousand years (ka). Results show that lineages in Southern Africa cluster with Western/Central African lineages at a recent time scale, whereas, eastern lineages seem to be substantially more ancient. Three moments of expansion from a Central African source are associated to L2: (1) one migration at 70-50 ka into Eastern or Southern Africa, (2) postglacial movements (15-10 ka) into Eastern Africa; and (3) the southward Bantu Expansion in the last 5 ka. The complementary population and L0a phylogeography analyses indicate no strong evidence of mtDNA gene flow between eastern and southern populations during the later movement, suggesting low admixture between Eastern African populations and the Bantu migrants. This implies that, at least in the early stages, the Bantu expansion was mainly a demic diffusion with little incorporation of local populations.
authors.affiliation: IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: 1] IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal [2] General Department of Forensic Sciences &Criminology, Dubai Police GHQ, 1493 Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Farida
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alshamali
authors.affiliation: 1] IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal [2] Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal [3] i3S (Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto), 4200 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: 1] Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 257 Maputo, Moçambique [2] Hospital Central de Maputo, 1164 Maputo, Moçambique.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrilho
authors.affiliation: 1] Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 257 Maputo, Moçambique [2] Departamento de Saúde Mental, Ministério da Saúde, 14 Maputo, Moçambique.
authors.forename: Flávio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mandlate
authors.affiliation: 1] Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal [2] Centro Nacional de Endemias, CP 23, São Tomé e Príncipe.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jesus Trovoada
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 128-43 Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Černý
authors.affiliation: 1] IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal [2] Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal [3] i3S (Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto), 4200 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Luísa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: 1] IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal [2] CBMA (Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental), Departamento de Biologia, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soares
mesh_terms: D000350:Africa, Central; D000351:Africa, Eastern; D001483:Base Sequence; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000266:history*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial