Shared paternal ancestry of Han, Tai-Kadai-speaking, and Austronesian-speaking populations as revealed by the high resolution phylogeny of O1a-M119 and distribution of its sub-lineages within China

Am J Phys Anthropol. 2021 Apr;174(4):686-700. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24240. Epub 2021 Feb 8.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this research was to explore the origin, diversification, and demographic history of O1a-M119 over the past 10,000 years, as well as its role during the formation of East Asian and Southeast Asian populations, particularly the Han, Tai-Kadai-speaking, and Austronesian-speaking populations.

Materials and methods: Y-chromosome sequences (n = 141) of the O1a-M119 lineage, including 17 newly generated in this study, were used to reconstruct a revised phylogenetic tree with age estimates, and identify sub-lineages. The geographic distribution of 12 O1a-M119 sub-lineages was summarized, based on 7325 O1a-M119 individuals identified among 60,009 Chinese males.

Results: A revised phylogenetic tree, age estimation, and distribution maps indicated continuous expansion of haplogroup O1a-M119 over the past 10,000 years, and differences in demographic history across geographic regions. We propose several sub-lineages of O1a-M119 as founding paternal lineages of Han, Tai-Kadai-speaking, and Austronesian-speaking populations. The sharing of several young O1a-M119 sub-lineages with expansion times less than 6000 years between these three population groups supports a partial common ancestry for them in the Neolithic Age; however, the paternal genetic divergence pattern is much more complex than previous hypotheses based on ethnology, archeology, and linguistics.

Discussion: Our analyses contribute to a better understanding of the demographic history of O1a-M119 sub-lineages over the past 10,000 years during the emergence of Han, Austronesians, Tai-Kadai-speaking populations. The data described in this study will assist in understanding of the history of Han, Tai-Kadai-speaking, and Austronesian-speaking populations from ethnology, archeology, and linguistic perspectives in the future.

Keywords: Austronesian-speaking populations; Han; O1a-M119; Tai-Kadai-speaking populations; Y chromosome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anthropology, Physical
  • Asian People / classification
  • Asian People / genetics*
  • China
  • Chromosomes, Human, Y / genetics*
  • Ethnicity / classification
  • Ethnicity / genetics*
  • Genetics, Population / methods*
  • Haplotypes / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Male