Different strains of Siberian ancestry spread east to the New World and west to Scandinavia.
Human populations across a vast area in northern Eurasia, from Fennoscandia to Chukotka, share a distinct genetic component often referred to as the Siberian ancestry. Most enriched in present-day Samoyedic-speaking populations such as Nganasans, its origins and history still remain elusive despite the growing list of ancient and present-day genomes from Siberia.
Here, we reanalyze published ancient and present-day Siberian genomes focusing on the Baikal and Yakutia, resolving key questions regarding their genetic history. First, we show a long-term presence of a unique genetic profile in southern Siberia, up to 6,000 yr ago, which distinctly shares a deep ancestral connection with Native Americans. Second, we provide plausible historical models tracing genetic changes in West Baikal and Yakutia in fine resolution. Third, the Middle Neolithic individual from Yakutia, belonging to the Belkachi culture, serves as the best source so far available for the spread of the Siberian ancestry into Fennoscandia and Greenland. These findings shed light on the genetic legacy of the Siberian ancestry and provide insights into the complex interplay between different populations in northern Eurasia throughout history.
Haechan Gill, Juhyeon Lee, Choongwon Jeon, "Reconstructing the Genetic Relationship between Ancient and Present-Day Siberian Populations" 16(4) Genome Biology and Evolution evae063 (March 25, 2024) https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evae063
2 comments:
I read the paper and it's pretty good. But, as the authors repeatedly point out, there just isn't enough ancient DNA in that area of the world to answer all the questions. Also, they didn't use qpAdm in the rotating sources mode to check for other possible combinations of distal sources for the Yakutia expansion.
I think what I meant to say was the authors present a passing model. That's awesome, but I think experience in Europe shows that until there is a surfeit of data then the story will change with each new high quality aDNA sample sequenced.
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