Y chromosome diversity in Aztlan descendants and its implications for the history of Central Mexico

Rocío Gómez; Miguel G Vilar; Marco Antonio Meraz-Ríos; David Véliz; Gerardo Zúñiga; Esther Alhelí Hernández-Tobías; Maria Del Pilar Figueroa-Corona; Amanda C Owings; Jill B Gaieski; Theodore G Schurr; Genographic Consortium

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102487

Y chromosome diversity in Aztlan descendants and its implications for the history of Central Mexico

iScience. 2021 Apr 30;24(5):102487. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102487. eCollection 2021 May 21.

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Toxicología, CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico City 07360, Mexico.
² Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398, USA.
³ National Geographic Society, Washington, DC 20005, USA.
⁴ Departmento de Biomedicina Molecular, CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico City 07360, Mexico.
⁵ Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800003, Chile.
⁶ Núcleo Milenio de Ecología y Manejo Sustentable de Islas Oceánicas, Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo 1781421, Chile.
⁷ Departamento de Zoología, Laboratorio de Variación Biológica y Evolución, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico.
⁸ Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Salud Pública y Nutrición, Monterrey, Nuevo León 64460, Mexico.

Abstract

Native Mexican populations are crucial for understanding the genetic ancestry of Aztec descendants and coexisting ethnolinguistic groups in the Valley of Mexico and elucidating the population dynamics of the prehistoric colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerican societies were multicultural in nature and also experienced significant admixture during Spanish colonization of the region. Despite these facts, Native Mexican Y chromosome diversity has been greatly understudied. To further elucidate their genetic history, we conducted a high-resolution Y chromosome analysis with Chichimecas, Nahuas, Otomies, Popolocas, Tepehuas, and Totonacas using 19 Y-short tandem repeat and 21 single nucleotide polymorphism loci. We detected enormous paternal genetic diversity in these groups, with haplogroups Q-MEH2, Q-M3, Q-Z768, Q-L663, Q-Z780, and Q-PV3 being identified. These data affirmed the southward colonization of the Americas via Beringia and connected Native Mexicans with indigenous populations from South-Central Siberia and Canada. They also suggested that multiple population dispersals gave rise to Y chromosome diversity in these populations.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Evolutionary biology; Evolutionary history; Genetics; Genotyping.