A recent bottleneck of Y chromosome diversity coincides with a global change in culture.

Maru Mormina, Monika Karmin, Toomas Kivisild

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Abstract

It is commonly thought that human genetic diversity in non-African populations was shaped primarily by an out-of-Africa dispersal 50–100 thousand yr ago (kya). Here, we present a study of 456 geographically diverse high-coverage Y chromosomesequences, including 299 newly reported samples. Applying ancient DNA calibration, we date the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) in Africa at 254 (95% CI 192–307) kya and detect a cluster of major non-Africanfounder haplogroups in a narrow time interval at 47–52 kya, consistent with a rapid initial colonization model of Eurasia and Oceania after the out-of-Africa bottleneck. In contrast to demographic reconstructions based on mtDNA, we infer a second strong bottleneck in Y-chromosome lineages dating to the last 10 ky. We hypothesize that this bottleneck is caused by cultural changes affecting variance of reproductive success among males.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)459-466
JournalGenome Research
Volume25
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Mar 2015

Keywords

  • mitochondrial DNA
  • Africa
  • Article
  • cultural factor
  • DNA determination
  • female
  • founder effect
  • gender
  • gene sequence
  • genetic variability
  • global change
  • haplogroup
  • human
  • male
  • Pacific islands
  • priority journal
  • reproductive success
  • Y chromosome

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