Ancient DNA reveals genetic connections between early Di-Qiang and Han Chinese

Jiawei Li,Hong Zhu,Wen Zeng,Albert Min-Shan Ko,Chunxiang Li,Qiaomei Fu,Ye Zhang,Hui Zhou

doi:10.1186/s12862-017-1082-0

Abstract

BackgroundAncient Di-Qiang people once resided in the Ganqing region of China, adjacent to the Central Plain area from where Han Chinese originated. While gene flow between the Di-Qiang and Han Chinese has been proposed, there is no evidence to support this view. Here we analyzed the human remains from an early Di-Qiang site (Mogou site dated ~4000 years old) and compared them to other ancient DNA across China, including an early Han-related site (Hengbei site dated ~3000 years old) to establish the underlying genetic relationship between the Di-Qiang and ancestors of Han Chinese.ResultsWe found Mogou mtDNA haplogroups were highly diverse, comprising 14 haplogroups: A, B, C, D (D*, D4, D5), F, G, M7, M8, M10, M13, M25, N*, N9a, and Z. In contrast, Mogou males were all Y-DNA haplogroup O3a2/P201; specifically one male was further assigned to O3a2c1a/M117 using targeted unique regions on the non-recombining region of the Y-chromosome. We compared Mogou to 7 other ancient and 38 modern Chinese groups, in a total of 1793 individuals, and found that Mogou shared close genetic distances with Taojiazhai (a more recent Di-Qiang population), Hengbei, and Northern Han. We modeled their interactions using Approximate Bayesian Computation, and support was given to a potential admixture of ~13-18% between the Mogou and Northern Han around 3300–3800 years ago.ConclusionsMogou harbors the earliest genetically identifiable Di-Qiang, ancestral to the Taojiazhai, and up to ~33% paternal and ~70% of its maternal haplogroups could be found in present-day Northern Han Chinese.

Highlights

Ancient Di-Qiang people once resided in the Ganqing region of China, adjacent to the Central Plain area from where Han Chinese originated
We genotyped 55 samples for Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hyper variable sequence I (HVS-I) and nt1040 0 T/C, and further Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci detection was carried out on the coding region to ensure that haplogroup was correctly called based on the results of the HVS-I motif
We found a total of 46 haplotypes (Table 3) with certain haplotypes shared by two or more individuals buried in the same grave, suggesting a matrilineal kinship among some individuals

Summary

Introduction

Ancient Di-Qiang people once resided in the Ganqing region of China, adjacent to the Central Plain area from where Han Chinese originated. The Huaxia is the earliest Chinese dynasty to emerge ~2000 BC along the Yellow River. This population grew from the Central Plain area and later became established as the Han Chinese during the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). We overcome this problem by investigation of the Mogou cemetery (Fig. 1), a considerably older Di-Qiang site in the Ganqing region that is enclosed by the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Tengger. The Mogou represents an early Di-Qiang predating the Han dynasty

Methods

Results

Conclusion