Gloria M. Gonzalez-Fortes, F. Tassi, E. Trucchi, K. Henneberger, Johanna L. A. Paijmans, D. Diez-del-Molino, H. Schroeder, R. R. Susca, C. Barroso-Ruiz, F. J. Bermudez, C. Barroso-Medina, A. M. S. Bettencourt, H. A. Sampaio, A. Salas, A. de Lombera-Hermida, Ramón Fabregas Valcarce, M. Vaquero, S. Alonso, Marina Lozano, Xose Pedro Rodriguez-Alvarez, C. Fernandez-Rodriguez, Andrea Manica, Michael Hofreiter, Guido Barbujani
- Being at the western fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistory and a complex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based on modern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here, we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from northern Portugal and southern Spain dated around 4000 years BP (from the Middle Neolithic to the Bronze Age). We found one of them to carry an unequivocal sub-Saharan mitogenome of most probably West or West-Central African origin, to our knowledge never reported before in prehistoric remains outside Africa. Our analyses of ancient nuclear genomes show small but significant levels of sub-Saharan African affinity in several ancient Iberian samples, which indicates that what we detected was not an occasional individual phenomenon, but an admixture event recognizable at the populationBeing at the western fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistory and a complex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based on modern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here, we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from northern Portugal and southern Spain dated around 4000 years BP (from the Middle Neolithic to the Bronze Age). We found one of them to carry an unequivocal sub-Saharan mitogenome of most probably West or West-Central African origin, to our knowledge never reported before in prehistoric remains outside Africa. Our analyses of ancient nuclear genomes show small but significant levels of sub-Saharan African affinity in several ancient Iberian samples, which indicates that what we detected was not an occasional individual phenomenon, but an admixture event recognizable at the population level. We interpret this result as evidence of an early migration process from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula through a western route, possibly across the Strait of Gibraltar.…
MetadatenAuthor details: | Gloria M. Gonzalez-FortesORCiD, F. Tassi, E. Trucchi, K. Henneberger, Johanna L. A. PaijmansORCiDGND, D. Diez-del-Molino, H. Schroeder, R. R. Susca, C. Barroso-Ruiz, F. J. Bermudez, C. Barroso-Medina, A. M. S. Bettencourt, H. A. Sampaio, A. Salas, A. de Lombera-HermidaORCiD, Ramón Fabregas ValcarceORCiD, M. Vaquero, S. Alonso, Marina LozanoORCiD, Xose Pedro Rodriguez-AlvarezORCiD, C. Fernandez-Rodriguez, Andrea ManicaORCiD, Michael HofreiterORCiDGND, Guido Barbujani |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2288 |
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ISSN: | 0962-8452 |
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ISSN: | 1471-2954 |
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Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30963949 |
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Title of parent work (English): | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences |
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Publisher: | Royal Society |
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Place of publishing: | London |
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Publication type: | Article |
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Language: | English |
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Date of first publication: | 2019/01/30 |
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Publication year: | 2019 |
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Release date: | 2021/04/20 |
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Tag: | Africa; Iberia; admixture; gene flow; mitochondrial DNA; palaeogenome |
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Volume: | 286 |
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Issue: | 1895 |
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Number of pages: | 10 |
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Funding institution: | Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (NeoGenHeritage) [655478]; European Research Council (ERC)European Research Council (ERC) [310763-GeneFlow, 295733-LanGeLin, 647787-LocalAdaptation]; Spanish MINECO [CGL2014-57209-P, HAR2010-21786/HIST]; Xunta de GaliciaXunta de Galicia |
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Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
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DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
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Peer review: | Referiert |
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Publishing method: | Open Access / Bronze Open-Access |
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