title: The Role of Recent Admixture in Forming the Contemporary West Eurasian Genomic Landscape.
abstract: Over the past few years, studies of DNA isolated from human fossils and archaeological remains have generated considerable novel insight into the history of our species. Several landmark papers have described the genomes of ancient humans across West Eurasia, demonstrating the presence of large-scale, dynamic population movements over the last 10,000 years, such that ancestry across present-day populations is likely to be a mixture of several ancient groups [1-7]. While these efforts are bringing the details of West Eurasian prehistory into increasing focus, studies aimed at understanding the processes behind the generation of the current West Eurasian genetic landscape have been limited by the number of populations sampled or have been either too regional or global in their outlook [8-11]. Here, using recently described haplotype-based techniques [11], we present the results of a systematic survey of recent admixture history across Western Eurasia and show that admixture is a universal property across almost all groups. Admixture in all regions except North Western Europe involved the influx of genetic material from outside of West Eurasia, which we date to specific time periods. Within Northern, Western, and Central Europe, admixture tended to occur between local groups during the period 300 to 1200 CE. Comparisons of the genetic profiles of West Eurasians before and after admixture show that population movements within the last 1,500 years are likely to have maintained differentiation among groups. Our analysis provides a timeline of the gene flow events that have generated the contemporary genetic landscape of West Eurasia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK; Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK. Electronic address: george@well.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: George B J
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Busby
authors.affiliation: UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Garrett
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hellenthal
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montinaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, Via Ghini 13, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tofanelli
authors.affiliation: N.I.Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, 3 Gubkin Street, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Kazima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bulayeva
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute of Population Heath Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rudan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biology, School of Medicine Split, Soltanska 2, Split 21000, Croatia.
authors.forename: Tatijana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zemunik
authors.affiliation: MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM), University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hayward
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, National Human Genome Center, Medical University Sofia, Sofia 1431, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Draga
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toncheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, National Human Genome Center, Medical University Sofia, Sofia 1431, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Sena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karachanak-Yankova
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, National Human Genome Center, Medical University Sofia, Sofia 1431, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Desislava
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nesheva
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Biology, Università La Sapienza, Roma 00185, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, Roma 00185, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anagnostou
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Genetica Molecolare, IRCCS Associazione Oasi Maria SS, Troina 94018, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cali
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK; Forensic Genetics Laboratory, Institute of Legal Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brisighelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università di Palermo, Palermo 90128, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentino
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS UPR 1142, and Montpellier University, Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lefranc
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS UPR 1142, and Montpellier University, Place Eugene Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buresi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, 1 Avenue Avicenne, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Jemni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ben Chibani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, 1 Avenue Avicenne, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haj-Khelil
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, 1 Avenue Avicenne, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Sabri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denden
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Warsaw Medical University, 3c Pawinskiego Street, Warsaw 02-106, Poland.
authors.forename: Rafal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ploski
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Warsaw Medical University, 1 Oczki Street, Warsaw 02-007, Poland.
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krajewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen 5021, Norway.
authors.forename: Tor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hervig
authors.affiliation: NTNU, Trondheim 7491, Norway.
authors.forename: Torolf
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moen
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL 33174, USA.
authors.forename: Rene J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute of Population Heath Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK; MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM), University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK; Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. Electronic address: cristian.capelli@zoo.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capelli
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005580:Fossils; D051456:Gene Flow; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D023281:Genomics; D006239:Haplotypes; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial