Genetic ancestry of families of putative Inka descent

José R Sandoval,Donaldo Pinedo,Daniela R Lacerda,Ronald Elward,Marilza S Jota,Susana Revollo,Fabricio R Santos,Ricardo Fujita,Oscar Acosta,Cinthia Cuellar,Pierina Danos

doi:10.1007/s00438-018-1427-4

Abstract

This study focuses on the descendants of the royal Inka family. The Inkas ruled Tawantinsuyu, the largest pre-Columbian empire in South America, which extended from southern Colombia to central Chile. The origin of the royal Inkas is currently unknown. While the mummies of the Inka rulers could have been informative, most were destroyed by Spaniards and the few remaining disappeared without a trace. Moreover, no genetic studies have been conducted on present-day descendants of the Inka rulers. In the present study, we analysed uniparental DNA markers in 18 individuals predominantly from the districts of San Sebastian and San Jerónimo in Cusco (Peru), who belong to 12 families of putative patrilineal descent of Inka rulers, according to documented registries. We used single-nucleotide polymorphisms and short tandem repeat (STR) markers of the Y chromosome (Y-STRs), as well as mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences, to investigate the paternal and maternal descent of the 18 alleged Inka descendants. Two Q-M3* Y-STR clusters descending from different male founders were identified. The first cluster, named AWKI-1, was associated with five families (eight individuals). By contrast, the second cluster, named AWKI-2, was represented by a single individual; AWKI-2 was part of the Q-Z19483 sub-lineage that was likely associated with a recent male expansion in the Andes, which probably occurred during the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1450 AD), overlapping the Inka period. Concerning the maternal descent, different mtDNA lineages associated with each family were identified, suggesting a high maternal gene flow among Andean populations, probably due to changes in the last 1000 years.

Highlights

Tawantinsuyu was the climax of approximately six millennia of autochthonous cultures in the Central Andes since the Norte Chico culture
We included approximately 1200 samples from the South American Genographic Database and from previously published studies; for clarity, we selected 282 individuals with 184 Y-short tandem repeat (STR) haplotypes of the Q haplogroup phylogenetically related to the Panakas
The Y-STR haplotypes identified among the San Sebastian–San Jerónimo (SsSj; n = 28) and Pacarictampu (n = 12) populations are listed in Supplemental Table 3 (49 individuals in Supplemental Table 3a and 282 individuals in Supplemental Table 3b)

Summary

Introduction

Tawantinsuyu was the climax of approximately six millennia of autochthonous cultures in the Central Andes since the Norte Chico culture. According to a genetic study (Sandoval et al 2013a), the current population of the Central Andes represents the highest proportion of Native American ancestry, and most Andeans are probably direct descendants of the Tawantinsuyu people. Genetic analysis of autochthonous Y-chromosome markers shows most South American populations with haplogroup Q (characterised by different sub-lineages) and other rare haplogroups, such as C-M217 (Jota et al 2016). We focused on the Panakas families to investigate whether they are related to each other by a patrilineal descent, and if they are genetically linked to populations from Lake Titicaca or to those from Pacarictampu To tackle these questions, we compared Y-chromosome and mtDNA data from the Panakas with individuals from different provinces of Cusco, including the Pacarictampu district, and many Quechua- and Aymara-speaking populations from Peru (including populations from Lake Titicaca), Bolivia and Ecuador.

Ethics statement and sampling

Results

Discussion

Compliance with ethical standards