Interview with Rohina Rubicz, Winner of the 2010 Gabriel W.Lasker Prize Franz Manni* Keywords Aleuts, Bering Island, genetic drift, admixture, population genetics An international jury composed of Guido Barbujani (Italy), David Caramelli (Italy), Roberto Macchiarelli (France), John Relethford (U.S.A.), and Alan Goodman (U.S.A.) selected the article entitled Genetic Architecture of a Small, Recently Aggregated Aleut Population: Bering Island, Russia by Rohina Rubicz, Mark Zlojutro, Guangyun Sun, Victor Spitsyn, Ranjan Deka, Kristin Young, and Michael Crawford as the best contribution to the 82nd volume of Human Biology (2010). This research paper appeared in a special double issue, entitled Origins of the Populations of the Aleutian Islands guest edited by Michael Crawford, Dixie West (both at the University of Kansas, Manhattan, Kansas), and Dennis O'Rourke (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah). Rohina Rubicz is a postdoctoral researcher at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (formerly the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research), San Antonio, Texas. She received her Ph.D. in biological anthropology (population genetics) in 2007 from the University of Kansas. As a graduate student she used molecular genetic markers (mitochondrial, Y chromosome, and autosomal DNA) to investigate questions concerning the peopling of the Americas, the co-evolution of genes and languages (Rubicz et al. 2002), and the origins of Aleuts and their relationship to other North American and Siberian populations (Rubicz et al. 2003; Zlojutro et al. 2006). Rohina's current research applies statistical genetic methods to the study of complex phenotypes, including the role of host genetics in susceptibility to infectious disease, and the relationship between infection and risk factors for chronic diseases of aging (i.e., cardiovascular disease and diabetes) in Mexican Americans. She also continues her work in population genetics, with a recent publication on genetic substructure among the peoples of Beringia (Rubicz et al. 2010). Franz Manni: Dear Rohina, first of all, let me congratulate you for this prize given to the first author of the best article in a volume of the Journal! Even though it is not an easy task as the article is rather complex, would you mind summarizing it for those readers who did not go through it yet? [End Page 337] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Dr. Rohina Rubicz, winner of the 2010 Gabriel W. Lasker Prize. Photo courtesy of Aaron Clark. Rohina Rubicz: Thank you, it is a great honor to receive this recognition of our work. Briefly, the article investigates genetic consequences of the founding of the community of Bering Island (in the Commander Islands, Russia) by Aleuts relocated from Alaska, and subsequent historic events, including intermarriages with Russians. This resulted in a loss of diversity of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages due to founder effect on the maternal side. Meanwhile, on the paternal side the opposing evolutionary force of gene flow introduced non-native Y chromosome lineages into the population. Based on admixture results of autosomal data, ancestral contributions to the mixed Aleut component of the Bering Island community are approximately 60% Aleut and 40% Russian. These molecular genetic data, along with classic genetic marker data compiled from the literature, are discussed within the context of the documented history and demography of this population. FM: How did you become interested in Bering Island? RR: When I first started out in anthropological genetics, as a graduate student working with Dr. Michael Crawford, my research focused on the origins and evolution of the inhabitants of the Aleutian archipelago, Alaska. According to archaeological evidence (Laughlin 1980; Knecht and Davis 2001) this region is believed to have been first settled from the east approximately 9,000 years ago. My work involved characterizing the mtDNA diversity of the modern Aleut [End Page 338] population. In this way I identified 26 different maternal lineages, belonging exclusively to mtDNA haplogroups A2 and D2. Analyses indicated that they are most closely related genetically to the peoples of the Chukchi Peninsula in northeastern Siberia, and Aleut-specific sublineages are dated to approximately 5,400 BP (Rubicz et al. 2003; Zlojutro et al. 2006). We further developed this project to look at the impact of historical events on Aleut genetic diversity, which included the founding of the Bering Island...