title: The genetics of kinship in remote human groups.
abstract: For fifteen years, part of the work of our research team has been focused on the study of parental links between individuals living hundreds or thousands of years ago, whose remains have been found in single graves or large funerary complexes. These studies have been undertaken using methods developed by forensic genetics to identify individuals, mainly based on the genotyping of autosomal STR (Short Tandem Repeats). Issues arose from this work, namely the limits of studying small numbers of subjects, originating from groups of finite sizes where kinships cannot be inferred a priori and for which reference allelic frequencies do not exist. Although ideal human populations are rare when undertaking such studies, the Yakuts of Eastern Siberia constitute a very advantageous model, with large numbers of small pastoral communities and well-preserved archaeological material. The study of kinship in the ancient Yakuts allowed us to highlight the difficulties in analysing genetic data from small ancient human groups and to develop a strategy to improve the accuracy of statistical computations. This work describes this strategy and possible solutions to the study of populations outside of the frame of reference of global meta-populations, due either to isolation, remoteness or antiquity.
authors: Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France. Electronic address: zvenigorosky@unistra.fr.
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Zvénigorosky
authors: Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Crubézy
authors: Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
authors: Morgane
authors: M
authors: Gibert
authors: Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: Thèves
authors: Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
authors: Clémence
authors: C
authors: Hollard
authors: Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
authors: Angéla
authors: A
authors: Gonzalez
authors: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Yakut Research Center of Complex Medical Problems, Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia; Laboratory of Molecular Biology, North-Eastern Federal University, Sakha Republic, Russia.
authors: Sardana A
authors: SA
authors: Fedorova
authors: Institut des sciences humaines et des problèmes des peuples minoritaires du Nord, Branche Sibérienne de l'Académie des sciences de Russie (Yakoutsk), Russia.
authors: Anatoly N
authors: AN
authors: Alexeev
authors: Institut des sciences humaines et des problèmes des peuples minoritaires du Nord, Branche Sibérienne de l'Académie des sciences de Russie (Yakoutsk), Russia.
authors: Rozalia I
authors: RI
authors: Bravina
authors: Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France; Institut Médico-Légal, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
authors: Bertrand
authors: B
authors: Ludes
authors: Institut de Médecine Légale, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; Laboratoire AMIS, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Keyser
mesh_terms: D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010375:Pedigree; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012426:Russia
chemical_list: D000072441:DNA, Ancient
keywords: Ancient DNA; Genetic kinship; Population genetics; Short tandem repeats; Yakutia