Genetic characterization of populations in the Marquesas Archipelago in the context of the Austronesian expansion

Our exploration of the genetic constitution of Nuku Hiva (n = 51), Hiva Oa (n = 28) and Tahuata (n = 8) of the Marquesas Archipelago based on the analyses of genome-wide autosomal markers as well as high-resolution genotyping of paternal and maternal lineages provides us with information on the origins and settlement of these islands at the fringe of the Austronesian expansion. One widespread theme that emerges from this study is the genetic uniformity and relative isolation exhibited by the Marquesas and Society populations. This genetic homogeneity within East Polynesia groups is reflected in their limited average heterozygosity, uniformity of constituents in the Structure analyses, reiteration of complete mtDNA sequences, marked separation from Asian and other Oceanic populations in the PC analyses, limited differentiation in the PCAs and large number of IBD segments in common. Both the f3 and the Outgroup f3 results provide indications of intra-East Polynesian gene flow that may have promoted the observed intra-East Polynesia genetic homogeneity while ALDER analyses indicate that East Polynesia experienced two gene flow episodes, one relatively recent from Europe that coincides roughly with the European incursion into the region and an early one that may represent the original settlement of the islands by Austronesians. Median Network analysis based on high-resolution Y-STR loci under C2a-M208 generates a star-like topology with East Polynesian groups (especially from the Society Archipelago) in central stem positions and individuals from the different populations radiating out one mutational step away while several Samoan and outlier individuals occupy peripheral positions. This arrangement of populations is congruent with dispersals of C2a-M208 Y chromosomes from East Polynesia as a migration hub signaling dispersals in various directions. The equivalent ages of the C2a-M208 lineage of the populations in the Network corroborate an east to west flow of the most abundant Polynesian Y chromosome

Genes reveal traces of common recent demographic history for most of the Uralic-speaking populations

Background: The genetic origins of Uralic speakers from across a vast territory in the temperate zone of North Eurasia have remained elusive. Previous studies have shown contrasting proportions of Eastern and Western Eurasian ancestry in their mitochondrial and Y chromosomal gene pools. While the maternal lineages reflect by and large the geographic background of a given Uralic-speaking population, the frequency of Y chromosomes of Eastern Eurasian origin is distinctively high among European Uralic speakers. The autosomal variation of Uralic speakers, however, has not yet been studied comprehensively.Results: Here, we present a genome-wide analysis of 15 Uralic-speaking populations which cover all main groups of the linguistic family. We show that contemporary Uralic speakers are genetically very similar to their local geographical neighbours. However, when studying relationships among geographically distant populations, we find that most of the Uralic speakers and some of their neighbours share a genetic component of possibly Siberian origin. Additionally, we show that most Uralic speakers share significantly more genomic segments identity-by-descent with each other than with geographically equidistant speakers of other languages. We find that correlated genome-wide genetic and lexical distances among Uralic speakers suggest co-dispersion of genes and languages. Yet, we do not find long-range genetic ties between Estonians and Hungarians with their linguistic sisters that would distinguish them from their non-Uralic-speaking neighbours.Conclusions: We show that most Uralic speakers share a distinct ancestry component of likely Siberian origin, which suggests that the spread of Uralic languages involved at least some demic component

Genes reveal traces of common recent demographic history for most of the Uralic-speaking populations.

BACKGROUND: The genetic origins of Uralic speakers from across a vast territory in the temperate zone of North Eurasia have remained elusive. Previous studies have shown contrasting proportions of Eastern and Western Eurasian ancestry in their mitochondrial and Y chromosomal gene pools. While the maternal lineages reflect by and large the geographic background of a given Uralic-speaking population, the frequency of Y chromosomes of Eastern Eurasian origin is distinctively high among European Uralic speakers. The autosomal variation of Uralic speakers, however, has not yet been studied comprehensively. RESULTS: Here, we present a genome-wide analysis of 15 Uralic-speaking populations which cover all main groups of the linguistic family. We show that contemporary Uralic speakers are genetically very similar to their local geographical neighbours. However, when studying relationships among geographically distant populations, we find that most of the Uralic speakers and some of their neighbours share a genetic component of possibly Siberian origin. Additionally, we show that most Uralic speakers share significantly more genomic segments identity-by-descent with each other than with geographically equidistant speakers of other languages. We find that correlated genome-wide genetic and lexical distances among Uralic speakers suggest co-dispersion of genes and languages. Yet, we do not find long-range genetic ties between Estonians and Hungarians with their linguistic sisters that would distinguish them from their non-Uralic-speaking neighbours. CONCLUSIONS: We show that most Uralic speakers share a distinct ancestry component of likely Siberian origin, which suggests that the spread of Uralic languages involved at least some demic component

Väetamise ABC

Käesolev vihik on oluliselt täiendatud trükk 1998-nda aasta väljaandest. Põhjalikumalt on lahti kirjutatud, haljasväetisi, külvikordi ja viljavaheldust, sõnniku kasutamist ning väetamise majanduslikku tasuvust käsitlevad peatükid. Väetamissoovitused ja normide täpsustused on esitatud tabelitena, millele lisatud lühikesed selgitavad tekstid. Vihiku lõpus on näidis, milline võiks olla põllumehe väetiste kasutamise plaan ja juhendid selle täitmiseks käesolevas vihikus toodud materjalide põhjal. Et looduses ei ole kahte ühesugust põldu, siis on loomulik, et siin toodud nõuanded ei suuda arvestada kõiki põldude eripärasid, kuid asjast huvitunud põllumees võib selle vihiku soovituste abil väetada oma põlde kartmata oluliselt eksida. Loomulikult on siin toodud väetamise soovitustes ainult väike osa teadmistest, mida aastakümnete jooksul on sel alal kogutud ja otstarbekas on hankida lisateavet vastava ala spetsialistidelt või seda ala käsitlevast kirjandusest. Kuna mitme tabeli sisu on omavahel seotud, tuleks tutvuda kogu vihiku materjaliga. Autorid tänavad kõiki, kes vihiku koostamisele ja väljaandmisele kaasa aitasid

Standing at the Gateway to Europe - The Genetic Structure of Western Balkan Populations Based on Autosomal and Haploid Markers

<div><p>Contemporary inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula belong to several ethnic groups of diverse cultural background. In this study, three ethnic groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosniacs, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs - as well as the populations of Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegrins and Kosovars have been characterized for the genetic variation of 660 000 genome-wide autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms and for haploid markers. New autosomal data of the 70 individuals together with previously published data of 20 individuals from the populations of the Western Balkan region in a context of 695 samples of global range have been analysed. Comparison of the variation data of autosomal and haploid lineages of the studied Western Balkan populations reveals a concordance of the data in both sets and the genetic uniformity of the studied populations, especially of Western South-Slavic speakers. The genetic variation of Western Balkan populations reveals the continuity between the Middle East and Europe via the Balkan region and supports the scenario that one of the major routes of ancient gene flows and admixture went through the Balkan Peninsula.</p></div

Network of 29 populations constructed with the Neighbor-net approach from F_ST distances based on the variation of autosomal SNPs.

<p>Western Balkan populations are indicated with violet color.</p

Map of the Western Balkan region with triangles corresponding to the regions from where blood samples were collected.

<p>The sample of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of subsamples of three main ethnic groups: Bosniacs (Sarajevo and Zavidovici), Bosnian Croats (Central Bosnia - Zepce and Maglaj; South Bosnia and Herzegovina - Mostar, Grude, Livno, Capljina), Bosnian Serbs (Doboj and Banjaluka region); Croatia (mainland, Zagreb region), Serbia (Belgrade region), Montenegro (Podgorica), Kosovo (Pristina and Prizren) and Macedonia (Skopje).</p

Principal component (PC) analysis of the variation of autosomal SNPs in Western Balkan populations in Eurasian context (PC1 <i>versus</i> PC2; see Table S1 for population data).

<p>Principal component (PC) analysis of the variation of autosomal SNPs in Western Balkan populations in Eurasian context (PC1 <i>versus</i> PC2; see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0105090#pone.0105090.s022" target="_blank">Table S1</a> for population data).</p

TreeMix analysis of Western Balkan and surrounding populations (see Table S1 for population data).

<p>TreeMix graph represents the model of 10 gene-flow events within the sample. A. The population tree with gene-flow (migration) events. The scalebar specifies the weight of a migration, precise value of it is shown on the migration edges; B. Residuals plot; C. Ultrametric tree.</p

Average number of <i>ibd</i> segments per pair shared between Muslim Western Balkan populations (A – Bosniacs; B - Kosovars) and Middle Eastern (Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, Turks, Palestinians) and other non-Muslim Western Balkan populations (Bosnian Croats and Serbs, Croatians, Macedonians, Serbians, Montenegrins).

<p>Average number of <i>ibd</i> segments per pair shared between Muslim Western Balkan populations (A – Bosniacs; B - Kosovars) and Middle Eastern (Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, Turks, Palestinians) and other non-Muslim Western Balkan populations (Bosnian Croats and Serbs, Croatians, Macedonians, Serbians, Montenegrins).</p