Reconciling evidence from ancient and contemporary genomes: a major source for the European Neolithic within Mediterranean Europe.
Important gaps remain in our understanding of the spread of farming into Europe, due partly to apparent contradictions between studies of contemporary genetic variation and ancient DNA. It seems clear that farming was introduced into central, northern, and eastern Europe from the south by pioneer colonization. It is often argued that these dispersals originated in the Near East, where the potential source genetic pool resembles that of the early European farmers, but clear ancient DNA evidence from Mediterranean Europe is lacking, and there are suggestions that Mediterranean Europe may have resembled the Near East more than the rest of Europe in the Mesolithic. Here, we test this proposal by dating mitogenome founder lineages from the Near East in different regions of Europe. We find that whereas the lineages date mainly to the Neolithic in central Europe and Iberia, they largely date to the Late Glacial period in central/eastern Mediterranean Europe. This supports a scenario in which the genetic pool of Mediterranean Europe was partly a result of Late Glacial expansions from a Near Eastern refuge, and that this formed an important source pool for subsequent Neolithic expansions into the rest of Europe.
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.|Instituto de Investigacão e Inovacão em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto 4200-135, Portugal.|Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto 4200-465, Portugal.
Joana B
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4409-514X
JB
Pereira
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.|Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto 4200-465, Portugal.|Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.|ICVS/3Bs-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.
Marta D
MD
Costa
Department of Biology, CBMA (Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
Daniel
D
Vieira
Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK.
Maria
M
Pala
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Lisa
L
Bamford
Laboratoire d'Anthropogenetique, Department de Biologie, Universite Chouaib Doukkali, El Jadida 24000, Morocco.
Nourdin
N
Harich
Laboratory of Genetics, Immunology and Human Pathology, Faculté de Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis 2092, Tunisia.|Tunis and High Institute of Biotechnology, University of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia.
Lotfi
L
Cherni
General Department of Forensic Sciences and Criminology, Dubai Police General Headquarters, Dubai 1493, United Arab Emirates.
Farida
F
Alshamali
Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Institute of Biology, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic.
Jiři
J
Hatina
Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Moscow, Russia.
Sergey
S
Rychkov
Institutul de Cercetari Biologice, Iasi, Romania.
Gheorghe
G
Stefanescu
Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Adrian Building, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
Turi
T
King
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie 'L. Spallanzani', Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Antonio
A
Torroni
Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto 4200-465, Portugal.|Department of Biology, CBMA (Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
Pedro
P
Soares
Instituto de Investigacão e Inovacão em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto 4200-135, Portugal.|Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto 4200-465, Portugal.|Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto 4200-319, Portugal.
Luísa
L
Pereira
Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK m.b.richards@hud.ac.uk.|Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK.
Martin B
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3118-0967
MB
Richards
D000072441:DNA, Ancient / Q000032:analysis*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005060:Europe; D018703:Founder Effect; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008877:Middle East; D044465:White People
D000072441:DNA, Ancient; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
European origins; Late Glacial; Neolithic; haplogroups; mitogenomes; phylogeography