title: Revisiting the male genetic landscape of China: a multi-center study of almost 38,000 Y-STR haplotypes.
abstract: China has repeatedly been the subject of genetic studies to elucidate its prehistoric and historic demography. While some studies reported a genetic distinction between Northern and Southern Han Chinese, others showed a more clinal picture of small differences within China. Here, we investigated the distribution of Y chromosome variation along administrative as well as ethnic divisions in the mainland territory of the People's Republic of China, including 28 administrative regions and 19 recognized Chinese nationalities, to assess the impact of recent demographic processes. To this end, we analyzed 37,994 Y chromosomal 17-marker haplotype profiles from the YHRD database with respect to forensic diversity measures and genetic distance between groups defined by administrative boundaries and ethnic origin. We observed high diversity throughout all Chinese provinces and ethnicities. Some ethnicities, including most prominently Kazakhs and Tibetans, showed significant genetic differentiation from the Han and other groups. However, differences between provinces were, except for those located on the Tibetan plateau, less pronounced. This discrepancy is explicable by the sizeable presence of Han speakers, who showed high genetic homogeneity all across China, in nearly all studied provinces. Furthermore, we observed a continuous genetic North-South gradient in the Han, confirming previous reports of a clinal distribution of Y chromosome variation and being in notable concordance with the previously observed spatial distribution of autosomal variation. Our findings shed light on the demographic changes in China accrued by a fast-growing and increasingly mobile population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistical Genetics and Bioinformatics, Cologne Center for Genomics (CCG), University of Cologne, Weyertal 115b, 50931, Cologne, Germany. michael.nothnagel@uni-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8305-7114
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nothnagel
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Security Technology, The Center for Forensic Science Research, Railway Police College, Zhengzhou, 450053, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guangyao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, National Police University of China, Shenyang, 110854, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminal Investigation, Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Bureau, Xi'an, 710016, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Science and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology and Forensic Genetics Laboratory, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Guizhou Medical University, Beijing Road, 9th, Guiyang, 550004, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Liaoning Criminal and Science Technology Research Institute, Shenyang, 110032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xianhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Dankook University, Cheonan, 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Wook
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
authors.forename: Kicheol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Shanghai Forensic Service Platform, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, P.R. China, Shanghai, 200063, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chengtao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shilin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminal Investigation, Hebei Provincial Public Security Bureau, Shijiazhuang City, 050000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Science and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weibo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Forensic Science Institute, Guangzhou, 510030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Forensic Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650500, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Science and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: School of Forensic Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650500, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengjie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Center of Cooperative Innovation for Judicial Civilization, Institute of Evidence Law and Forensic Science, China University of Political Science and Law, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100088, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Meisen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510089, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, 523808, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianpin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Sciences, Police Station of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450008, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Chuan-Chao
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine and Laboratory Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shao-Qing
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Xinxiang Medical University School of Basic Medical, Xinxiang, Henan, 453003, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Science, Zhejiang Provincial Public Security Bureau, Hangzhou, 310009, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Forensic Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiaxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiangwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Evidence Science of Gansu Province, Gansu Institute of Political Science and Law, Lanzhou, 730070, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongbing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Science and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Science and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Libing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450052, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhaoshu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Department, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, 410013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lagabaiyila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zha
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Shanghai Forensic Service Platform, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, P.R. China, Shanghai, 200063, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Suhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Department of Surgery, Department of Oncology, University of Western Ontario, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada.
authors.forename: Xiufen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Willuweit
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Genetics, Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roewer
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats