title: Genomic study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry.
abstract: The Kets, an ethnic group in the Yenisei River basin, Russia, are considered the last nomadic hunter-gatherers of Siberia, and Ket language has no transparent affiliation with any language family. We investigated connections between the Kets and Siberian and North American populations, with emphasis on the Mal'ta and Paleo-Eskimo ancient genomes, using original data from 46 unrelated samples of Kets and 42 samples of their neighboring ethnic groups (Uralic-speaking Nganasans, Enets, and Selkups). We genotyped over 130,000 autosomal SNPs, identified mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplogroups, and performed high-coverage genome sequencing of two Ket individuals. We established that Nganasans, Kets, Selkups, and Yukaghirs form a cluster of populations most closely related to Paleo-Eskimos in Siberia (not considering indigenous populations of Chukotka and Kamchatka). Kets are closely related to modern Selkups and to some Bronze and Iron Age populations of the Altai region, with all these groups sharing a high degree of Mal'ta ancestry. Implications of these findings for the linguistic hypothesis uniting Ket and Na-Dene languages into a language macrofamily are discussed.
authors: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic.|A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budĕjovice, Czech Republic.
authors: Pavel
authors: P
authors: Flegontov
authors: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
authors: Piya
authors: P
authors: Changmai
authors: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
authors: Anastassiya
authors: A
authors: Zidkova
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.|Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Maria D
authors: MD
authors: Logacheva
authors: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
authors: N Ezgi
authors: NE
authors: Altınışık
authors: Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budĕjovice, Czech Republic.
authors: Olga
authors: O
authors: Flegontova
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Mikhail S
authors: MS
authors: Gelfand
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Evgeny S
authors: ES
authors: Gerasimov
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo, Russia.
authors: Ekaterina E
authors: EE
authors: Khrameeva
authors: Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Olga P
authors: OP
authors: Konovalova
authors: Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Tatiana
authors: T
authors: Neretina
authors: Biomedical Cluster, Skolkovo Foundation, Skolkovo, Russia.|George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
authors: Yuri V
authors: YV
authors: Nikolsky
authors: Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.|Russian Presidential Academy (RANEPA), Moscow, Russia.
authors: George
authors: G
authors: Starostin
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo, Russia.
authors: Vita V
authors: VV
authors: Stepanova
authors: Retired, Moscow, Russia.
authors: Igor V
authors: IV
authors: Travinsky
authors: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Tříska
authors: Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal.|Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Universidade do Porto (ICBAS), Porto, Portugal.
authors: Petr
authors: P
authors: Tříska
authors: A.A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.|Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Spatial Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors: Tatiana V
authors: TV
authors: Tatarinova
mesh_terms: D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006239:Haplotypes; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D004930:Inuit / Q000235:genetics*; D007802:Language; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012800:Siberia
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial