The Geography of the Stationary Gene Migration Rate in the Human Population of Northern Eurasia

Abstract

Approximation of the empirical distribution of gene frequencies by a theoretical steady-state distribution was used to obtain a geographical distribution of the limiting gene migration rates in the Northern Eurasian population. The rate averaged over the map was \(\bar m\) = 0.0432 ± 0.0003. A geographical map of χ2values, which reflect the local nonstationarity character of genetic processes and intensity of selection on the distribution of gene frequencies, is presented. Over 90.1% of Northern Eurasia, the χ2values satisfy the goodness-of-fit test at a significance level of α = 0.1. The geographical distribution that characterizes the ratio between the stepping-stone and island properties of the population migration structure has been obtained. Combined analysis of the spatial characteristics of population migration structure demonstrated that the Pacific coast of Eurasia has played a special role in population genetic processes. This is most likely related to populating the Far East by humans in the remote past and, probably, their more recent expansion to North America through Beringia. The Caucasian region is shown to be extremely stable in terms of the stationarity of migration processes, which agrees with the general view on traditional Caucasian isolates.