Dataset Information

Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers.

ABSTRACT: Ancient DNA studies have established that Neolithic European populations were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and admixture during the Neolithic period. Here we investigate the population dynamics of Neolithization across Europe using a high-resolution genome-wide ancient DNA dataset with a total of 180 samples, of which 130 are newly reported here, from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods of Hungary (6000-2900 bc, n?=?100), Germany (5500-3000 bc, n?=?42) and Spain (5500-2200 bc, n?=?38). We find that genetic diversity was shaped predominantly by local processes, with varied sources and proportions of hunter-gatherer ancestry among the three regions and through time. Admixture between groups with different ancestry profiles was pervasive and resulted in observable population transformation across almost all cultural transitions. Our results shed new light on the ways in which gene flow reshaped European populations throughout the Neolithic period and demonstrate the potential of time-series-based sampling and modelling approaches to elucidate multiple dimensions of historical population interactions.

SUBMITTER: Lipson M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5973800 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers.

Lipson Mark M Szécsényi-Nagy Anna A Mallick Swapan S Pósa Annamária A Stégmár Balázs B Keerl Victoria V Rohland Nadin N Stewardson Kristin K Ferry Matthew M Michel Megan M Oppenheimer Jonas J Broomandkhoshbacht Nasreen N Harney Eadaoin E Nordenfelt Susanne S Llamas Bastien B Gusztáv Mende Balázs B Köhler Kitti K Oross Krisztián K Bondár Mária M Marton Tibor T Osztás Anett A Jakucs János J Paluch Tibor T Horváth Ferenc F Csengeri Piroska P Koós Judit J Sebők Katalin K Anders Alexandra A Raczky Pál P Regenye Judit J Barna Judit P JP Fábián Szilvia S Serlegi Gábor G Toldi Zoltán Z Gyöngyvér Nagy Emese E Dani János J Molnár Erika E Pálfi György G Márk László L Melegh Béla B Bánfai Zsolt Z Domboróczki László L Fernández-Eraso Javier J Antonio Mujika-Alustiza José J Alonso Fernández Carmen C Jiménez Echevarría Javier J Bollongino Ruth R Orschiedt Jörg J Schierhold Kerstin K Meller Harald H Cooper Alan A Burger Joachim J Bánffy Eszter E Alt Kurt W KW Lalueza-Fox Carles C Haak Wolfgang W Reich David D

Nature 20171108 7680

Ancient DNA studies have established that Neolithic European populations were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and admixture during the Neolithic period. Here we investigate the population dynamics of Neolithization across Europe using a high-resolution genome-wide ancient DNA dataset with a total of 180 samples, of wh ...[more]

PMID: 29144465

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Project description:In Europe, the Neolithic transition (8,000-4,000 B.C.) from hunting and gathering to agricultural communities was one of the most important demographic events since the initial peopling of Europe by anatomically modern humans in the Upper Paleolithic (40,000 B.C.). However, the nature and speed of this transition is a matter of continuing scientific debate in archaeology, anthropology, and human population genetics. To date, inferences about the genetic make up of past populations have mostly been drawn from studies of modern-day Eurasian populations, but increasingly ancient DNA studies offer a direct view of the genetic past. We genetically characterized a population of the earliest farming culture in Central Europe, the Linear Pottery Culture (LBK; 5,500-4,900 calibrated B.C.) and used comprehensive phylogeographic and population genetic analyses to locate its origins within the broader Eurasian region, and to trace potential dispersal routes into Europe. We cloned and sequenced the mitochondrial hypervariable segment I and designed two powerful SNP multiplex PCR systems to generate new mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal data from 21 individuals from a complete LBK graveyard at Derenburg Meerenstieg II in Germany. These results considerably extend the available genetic dataset for the LBK (n = 42) and permit the first detailed genetic analysis of the earliest Neolithic culture in Central Europe (5,500-4,900 calibrated B.C.). We characterized the Neolithic mitochondrial DNA sequence diversity and geographical affinities of the early farmers using a large database of extant Western Eurasian populations (n = 23,394) and a wide range of population genetic analyses including shared haplotype analyses, principal component analyses, multidimensional scaling, geographic mapping of genetic distances, and Bayesian Serial Simcoal analyses. The results reveal that the LBK population shared an affinity with the modern-day Near East and Anatolia, supporting a major genetic input from this area during the advent of farming in Europe. However, the LBK population also showed unique genetic features including a clearly distinct distribution of mitochondrial haplogroup frequencies, confirming that major demographic events continued to take place in Europe after the early Neolithic.

Dataset Information

Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers.

Publications

Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers.

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