How strong was the bottleneck associated to the peopling of the Americas? New insights from multilocus sequence data

In spite of many genetic studies that contributed for a deep knowledge about the peopling of the Americas, no consensus has emerged about important parameters such as the effective size of the Native Americans founder population. Previous estimates based on genomic datasets may have been biased by the use of admixed individuals from Latino populations, while other recent studies using samples from Native American individuals relied on approximated analytical approaches. In this study we use resequencing data for nine independent regions in a set of Native American and Siberian individuals and a full-likelihood approach based on isolation-with-migration scenarios accounting for recent flow between Asian and Native American populations. Our results suggest that, in agreement with previous studies, the effective size of the Native American population was small, most likely in the order of a few hundred individuals, with point estimates close to 250 individuals, even though credible intervals include a number as large as ~4,000 individuals. Recognizing the size of the genetic bottleneck during the peopling of the Americas is important for determining the extent of genetic markers needed to characterize Native American populations in genome-wide studies and to evaluate the adaptive potential of genetic variants in this population

Twin Town in South Brazil: A Nazi's Experiment or a Genetic Founder Effect?

Cândido Godói (CG) is a small municipality in South Brazil with approximately 6,000 inhabitants. It is known as the “Twins' Town” due to its high rate of twin births. Recently it was claimed that such high frequency of twinning would be connected to experiments performed by the German Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele. It is known, however, that this town was founded by a small number of families and therefore a genetic founder effect may represent an alternatively explanation for the high twinning prevalence in CG. In this study, we tested specific predictions of the “Nazi's experiment” and of the “founder effect” hypotheses. We surveyed a total of 6,262 baptism records from 1959–2008 in CG catholic churches, and identified 91 twin pairs and one triplet. Contrary to the “Nazi's experiment hypothesis”, there is no spurt in twinning between the years (1964–1968) when Mengele allegedly was in CG (P = 0.482). Moreover, there is no temporal trend for a declining rate of twinning since the 1960s (P = 0.351), and no difference in twinning among CG districts considering two different periods: 1927–1958 and 1959–2008 (P = 0.638). On the other hand, the “founder effect hypothesis” is supported by an isonymy analysis that shows that women who gave birth to twins have a higher inbreeding coefficient when compared to women who never had twins (0.0148, 0.0081, respectively, P = 0.019). In summary, our results show no evidence for the “Nazi's experiment hypothesis” and strongly suggest that the “founder effect hypothesis” is a much more likely alternative for explaining the high prevalence of twinning in CG. If this hypothesis is correct, then this community represents a valuable population where genetic factors linked to twinning may be identified

Genetic variation at the mitochondrial DNA 9-bp repeat locus in the Sakha of Siberia.

Genetic variation at the mitochondrial DNA 9-bp repeat locus was assayed in 779 Sakha from Siberia. Fourteen deletion (1.8%), nine triplication (1.2%), and two 4-repeat alleles (0.26%) were identified. Several of these alleles were also detected as heteroplasmies. Among the four heteroplasmic individuals identified (0.51%), three different combinations of repeat alleles were present: 1/2, 2/3, and 2/3/4 copies. Hypervariable region I (HVRI) sequencing revealed that three different sets of haplogroups were associated with the three most frequent 9-bp polymorphisms: (1) haplo-groups B, T, and W for deletions; (2) haplogroups C, D, and K for triplications; and (3) haplogroups C, D, and T for heteroplasmies. Both of the two 4-repeat alleles were associated with haplogroup D. We detected more types of 9-bp polymorphisms and more genetic variation within classes of polymorphism than previously reported for any single population. We also present the largest and most geographically diverse sampling of the Sakha population to date. No neighboring populations have been reported to carry a non-haplogroup B deletion, triplication, or heteroplasmy, suggesting that shared ancestry or admixture or both are unlikely explanations for the presence of these polymorphisms in the Sakha. The identification of high levels of variation may be a function of the large sample size and the in-depth analysis of all derived polymorphisms. Further study of the Sakha is warranted to determine whether the level of variation is unexpectedly high, especially in light of the presence of different heteroplasmies, which suggests multiple recent events

Genetic Variation at the Mitochondrial DNA 9-bp Repeat Locus in the Sakha of Siberia

Genetic variation at the mitochondrial DNA 9-bp repeat locus was assayed in 779 Sakha from Siberia. Fourteen deletion (1.8%), nine triplication (1.2%), and two 4-repeat alleles (0.26%) were identified. Several of these alleles were also detected as heteroplasmies. Among the four heteroplasmic individuals identified (0.51%), three different combinations of repeat alleles were present: 1/2, 2/3, and 2/3/4 copies. Hypervariable region I (HVRI) sequencing revealed that three different sets of haplogroups were associated with the three most frequent 9-bp polymorphisms: (1) haplogroups B, T, and W for deletions; (2) haplogroups C, D, and K for triplications; and (3) haplogroups C, D, and T for heteroplasmies. Both of the two 4-repeat alleles were associated with haplogroup D. We detected more types of 9-bp polymorphisms and more genetic variation within classes of polymorphism than previously reported for any single population. We also present the largest and most geographically diverse sampling of the Sakha population to date. No neighboring populations have been reported to carry a non–haplogroup B deletion, triplication, or heteroplasmy, suggesting that shared ancestry or admixture or both are unlikely explanations for the presence of these polymorphisms in the Sakha. The identification of high levels of variation may be a function of the large sample size and the in-depth analysis of all derived polymorphisms. Further study of the Sakha is warranted to determine whether the level of variation is unexpectedly high, especially in light of the presence of different heteroplasmies, which suggests multiple recent events

Y-chromosomal evidence for a strong reduction in male population size of Yakuts

International audienc

Surnames in Siberia: a study of the population of Yakutia through isonymy.

We studied the isonymic structure of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in the Russian Federation, using the surname distributions of 491,259 citizens above 18 years registered as residents in 2002. These were distributed in 35 districts and 497 towns and settlements of the Republic. The number of different surnames was 44,625. Matrices of isonymic distances between the 35 districts were tested for correlation with the geographic distance between the population centers of gravity of thedistricts. We found that, for the whole of Yakutia, Nei's distance was correlated with geographic distance (r = 0.693 ± 0.027). A dendrogram of the 35 districts was built from the distance matrix, using the UPGMA method. The clusters identified by the dendrogram correlate with the geographic position of the districts. The correlation of random inbreeding calculated from isonymy, FST, with latitude was positive and highly significant but weak (r = 0.23). So, inbreeding was highest in the Arctic districts, and lowest in the South. Average for 497 towns was 107, for 35 districts it was 311, and for the Republic 433. The value of was higher for Russian than for the local languages. The geographical distribution of , high in the Center and South-East and lower in the North-West, is compatible with the settlement of groups of migrants moving from the South-East toward the center and the North of Yakutia. It is proposed that low-density demic diffusion of human populations results in high inbreeding and may have been a general phenomenon in the early phases of human radiations