Tracing the Genetic Legacy of the Tibetan Empire in the Balti

Xing-Yan Yang; Allah Rakha; Wei Chen; Juzhi Hou; Xue-Bin Qi; Quan-Kuan Shen; Shan-Shan Dai; Xierzhatijiang Sulaiman; Najmudinov Tojiddin Abdulloevich; Manilova Elena Afanasevna; Khudoidodov Behruz Ibrohimovich; Xi Chen; Wei-Kang Yang; Atif Adnan; Ruo-Han Zhao; Yong-Gang Yao; Bing Su; Min-Sheng Peng; Ya-Ping Zhang

doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa313

Tracing the Genetic Legacy of the Tibetan Empire in the Balti

Mol Biol Evol. 2021 Apr 13;38(4):1529-1536. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaa313.

Authors

Xing-Yan Yang^{1

2}, Allah Rakha^{3

4}, Wei Chen^{5

6}, Juzhi Hou⁷, Xue-Bin Qi¹, Quan-Kuan Shen^{1

8}, Shan-Shan Dai^{1

8}, Xierzhatijiang Sulaiman¹, Najmudinov Tojiddin Abdulloevich⁹, Manilova Elena Afanasevna⁹, Khudoidodov Behruz Ibrohimovich⁹, Xi Chen^{10

11}, Wei-Kang Yang^{10

11}, Atif Adnan¹², Ruo-Han Zhao¹, Yong-Gang Yao^{4

8

13}, Bing Su^{1

8

14}, Min-Sheng Peng^{1

8

13}, Ya-Ping Zhang^{1

2

8

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
² State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
³ Department of Forensic Sciences, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
⁵ College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology (LAE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁸ Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
⁹ E.N. Pavlovsky Institute of Zoology and Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
¹⁰ Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China.
¹² Department of Human Anatomy, School of Basic Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
¹³ KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
¹⁴ Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.

Abstract

The rise and expansion of Tibetan Empire in the 7th to 9th centuries AD affected the course of history across East Eurasia, but the genetic impact of Tibetans on surrounding populations remains undefined. We sequenced 60 genomes for four populations from Pakistan and Tajikistan to explore their demographic history. We showed that the genomes of Balti people from Baltistan comprised 22.6-26% Tibetan ancestry. We inferred a single admixture event and dated it to about 39-21 generations ago, a period that postdated the conquest of Baltistan by the ancient Tibetan Empire. The analyses of mitochondrial DNA, Y, and X chromosome data indicated that both ancient Tibetan males and females were involved in the male-biased dispersal. Given the fact that the Balti people adopted Tibetan language and culture in history, our study suggested the impact of Tibetan Empire on Baltistan involved dominant cultural and minor demic diffusion.

Keywords: Balti; Tibetan; X chromosome; admixture; genome; mtDNA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Female
Gene Flow*
Genome, Human*
Humans
Male
Pakistan
Tibet / ethnology
Whole Genome Sequencing