Abstract
BackgroundDespite attempts in retracing the history of the Thao people in Taiwan using folktales, linguistics, physical anthropology, and ethnic studies, their history remains incomplete. The heritage of Thao has been associated with the Pazeh Western plains peoples and several other mountain peoples of Taiwan. In the last 400 years, their culture and genetic profile have been reshaped by East Asian migrants. They were displaced by the Japanese and the construction of a dam and almost faced extinction.In this paper, genetic information from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Histoleucocyte antigens (HLA), and the non-recombining Y chromosome of 30 Thao individuals are compared to 836 other Taiwan Mountain and Plains Aborigines (TwrIP & TwPp), 384 Non-Aboriginal Taiwanese (non-TwA) and 149 Continental East Asians.ResultsThe phylogeographic analyses of mtDNA haplogroups F4b and B4b1a2 indicated gene flow between Thao, Bunun, and Tsou, and suggested a common ancestry from 10,000 to 3000 years ago. A claim of close contact with the heavily Sinicized Pazeh of the plains was not rejected and suggests that the plains and mountain peoples most likely shared the same Austronesian agriculturist gene pool in the Neolithic.ConclusionsHaving been moving repeatedly since their arrival in Taiwan between 6000 and 4500 years ago, the Thao finally settled in the central mountain range. They represent the last plains people whose strong bonds with their original culture allowed them to preserve their genetic heritage, despite significant gene flow from the mainland of Asia.Representing a considerable contribution to the genealogical history of the Thao people, the findings of this study bear on ongoing anthropological and linguistic debates on their origin.
Highlights
Despite attempts in retracing the history of the Thao people in Taiwan using folktales, linguistics, physical anthropology, and ethnic studies, their history remains incomplete
While the average number of Histoleucocyte antigens (HLA) alleles [24, 25] and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups observed among mainland Asians, Non-Aboriginal Taiwanese (non-TwA) and Taiwan Pingpu (TwPp) (Additional file 1: Table S1) were fairly high, the number of Y-Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) haplogroups seen among Taiwan recognized indigenous peoples (TwrIP) did not reach values greater than four (k ≤ 4)
Non-recombining Y chromosome (NRY) of the Thao All Y-SNP haplogroups observed in the Thao sample (16 males out of 30 individuals) were para-groups of macro-haplogroup O1; namely, O1a*-M119 (n = 1), O1a2-M50 (n = 1) and O1a1*-P203 (n = 14, 87.5%) (Additional file 1: Table S1)
Summary
Despite attempts in retracing the history of the Thao people in Taiwan using folktales, linguistics, physical anthropology, and ethnic studies, their history remains incomplete. Today there are 16 groups of officially recognized indigenous peoples in Taiwan (TwrIP) who represent approximately 2.2% of the Taiwan population The greatest genealogical diversity of the Austronesian languages is found in Taiwan, where they diversified and expanded from the ancestral Proto-Austronesian languages arriving from the East Asian Mainland 6000 YBP [7, 10] with the Neolithic colonization of the island. This language group most likely reached its present diversity at the beginning of the Neolithic era, and are often referred to as the Formosan languages. Subsequent human entries include at least Metal Age Austronesian groups from Southeast Asia, European, Chinese, Japanese colonial settlers, and post Second World War Chinese exilés, each with substantial cultural and genetic impacts on the island’s population [5, 11,12,13]
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