title: Pleistocene Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest a Single Major Dispersal of Non-Africans and a Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe.
abstract: How modern humans dispersed into Eurasia and Australasia, including the number of separate expansions and their timings, is highly debated [1, 2]. Two categories of models are proposed for the dispersal of non-Africans: (1) single dispersal, i.e., a single major diffusion of modern humans across Eurasia and Australasia [3-5]; and (2) multiple dispersal, i.e., additional earlier population expansions that may have contributed to the genetic diversity of some present-day humans outside of Africa [6-9]. Many variants of these models focus largely on Asia and Australasia, neglecting human dispersal into Europe, thus explaining only a subset of the entire colonization process outside of Africa [3-5, 8, 9]. The genetic diversity of the first modern humans who spread into Europe during the Late Pleistocene and the impact of subsequent climatic events on their demography are largely unknown. Here we analyze 55 complete human mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) of hunter-gatherers spanning ∼35,000 years of European prehistory. We unexpectedly find mtDNA lineage M in individuals prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This lineage is absent in contemporary Europeans, although it is found at high frequency in modern Asians, Australasians, and Native Americans. Dating the most recent common ancestor of each of the modern non-African mtDNA clades reveals their single, late, and rapid dispersal less than 55,000 years ago. Demographic modeling not only indicates an LGM genetic bottleneck, but also provides surprising evidence of a major population turnover in Europe around 14,500 years ago during the Late Glacial, a period of climatic instability at the end of the Pleistocene.
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: posth@shh.mpg.de.
authors: Cosimo
authors: C
authors: Posth
authors: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Gabriel
authors: G
authors: Renaud
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors: Alissa
authors: A
authors: Mittnik
authors: Department of Geosciences, Biogeology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstraße 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Dorothée G
authors: DG
authors: Drucker
authors: Department of Anthropology, California State University Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8244, USA.
authors: Hélène
authors: H
authors: Rougier
authors: Service Régional d'Archéologie de Franche-Comté, 7 Rue Charles Nodier, 25043 Besançon Cedex, France; Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR 6249 du CNRS, UFR des Sciences et Techniques, 16 Route de Gray, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors: Christophe
authors: C
authors: Cupillard
authors: CNRS/UMR 7041 ArScAn MAE, 21 Allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors: Frédérique
authors: F
authors: Valentin
authors: INRAP/UMR 8215 Trajectoires, 21 Allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors: Corinne
authors: C
authors: Thevenet
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Anja
authors: A
authors: Furtwängler
authors: Department of Geosciences, Biogeology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstraße 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Wißing
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Paleoanthropology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Francken
authors: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Research Center "The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans" at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Malina
authors: Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Research Center "The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans" at the University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Bolus
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: Martina
authors: M
authors: Lari
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Gigli
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, U.R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università degli Studi di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100 Siena, Italy.
authors: Giulia
authors: G
authors: Capecchi
authors: CNRS, UMR 5199, PACEA, A3P, Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615 Pessac Cedex, France.
authors: Isabelle
authors: I
authors: Crevecoeur
authors: Archéosphère, 2 Rue des Noyers, 11500 Quirbajou, France.
authors: Cédric
authors: C
authors: Beauval
authors: TRACES, UMR 5608, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de la Recherche, 5 Allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
authors: Damien
authors: D
authors: Flas
authors: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 29 Vautier Street, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Mietje
authors: M
authors: Germonpré
authors: Centre for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands; Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, PO Box 9514, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: van der Plicht
authors: INRAP/UMR 8215 Trajectoires, 21 Allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France.
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Cottiaux
authors: Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Rhône-Alpes, Le Grenier d'Abondance 6, Quai Saint-Vincent, 69283 Lyon Cedex 01, France.
authors: Bernard
authors: B
authors: Gély
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell'Ambiente, U.R. Preistoria e Antropologia, Università degli Studi di Siena, Via Laterina 8, 53100 Siena, Italy.
authors: Annamaria
authors: A
authors: Ronchitelli
authors: Ulmer Museum, Marktplatz 9, 89073 Ulm, Germany.
authors: Kurt
authors: K
authors: Wehrberger
authors: Department of Geology, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, Bulevardul Nicolae Balcescu 1, 01041 Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Grigorescu
authors: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic; Institute of Archaeology at Brno, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, 69129 Dolní Věstonice, Czech Republic.
authors: Jiří
authors: J
authors: Svoboda
authors: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 29 Vautier Street, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Semal
authors: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Firenze, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Florence, Italy.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Caramelli
authors: Department of Geosciences, Biogeology, University of Tübingen, Hölderlinstraße 12, 72074 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Hervé
authors: H
authors: Bocherens
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Paleoanthropology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Katerina
authors: K
authors: Harvati
authors: Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors: Nicholas J
authors: NJ
authors: Conard
authors: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Haak
authors: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany. Electronic address: powell@shh.mpg.de.
authors: Adam
authors: A
authors: Powell
authors: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Archaeo- and Palaeogenetics, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: krause@shh.mpg.de.
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Krause
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial