Abstract OPP-9806759 Hammer, Michael Karafet, Tatiana University of Arizona Within genetics, the study of lineages that are inherited maternally (mtDNA), paternally (Y chromosomes), or biparentally, can offer different insights into human history. This project focuses on the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome in Asian populations to shed light on ancient migrations within Asia and movements to the rest of the world. The investigators will continue Y chromosome surveys in 14 native Siberian populations and perform the first detailed study of genetic variation in 12 indigenous Mongolian groups. Y chromosome data will also be collected from 14 West-Central Asian, East Asian, and North-Central Chinese populations. In combination with similar global data, this information will be used to (1) construct Y chromosome haplotypes; (2) measure levels of intra- and inter-group components of variation; (3) establish genetic relationships among these populations from the perspective of male lineages; (4) build a phylogenetic tree that shows how contemporary Y haplotypes evolved from ancestral ones; (5) estimate the time to the most recent common ancestral Y chromosome and the ages of individual mutations in the haplotype tree; and (6) perform statistical tests to identify associations between haplotypes and geography. The combined data will be used to address a number of hypotheses regarding the chronology of the initial peopling of northern Asia, the nature of its ancient human populations, the origins and migration patterns from Asia to Europe and the New World, and an Asian back-to-Africa migration.
