Ancient DNA Analysis Suggests Negligible Impact of the Wari Empire Expansion in Peru's Central Coast during the Middle Horizon

Unraveling the Genetic Threads of History: mtDNA HVS-I Analysis Reveals the Ancient Past of the Aburra Valley

This article presents a comprehensive genetic study focused on pre-Hispanic individuals who inhabited the Aburrá Valley in Antioquia, Colombia, between the tenth and seventeenth centuries AD. Employing a genetic approach, the study analyzed maternal lineages using DNA samples obtained from skeletal remains. The results illuminate a remarkable degree of biological diversity within these populations and provide insights into their genetic connections with other ancient and indigenous groups across the American continent. The findings strongly support the widely accepted hypothesis that the migration of the first American settlers occurred through Beringia, a land bridge connecting Siberia to North America during the last Ice Age. Subsequently, these early settlers journeyed southward, crossing the North American ice cap. Of particular note, the study unveils the presence of ancestral lineages from Asian populations, which played a pivotal role in populating the Americas. The implications of these results extend beyond delineating migratory routes and settlement patterns of ancient populations. They also enrich our understanding of the genetic diversity inherent in indigenous populations of the region. By revealing the genetic heritage of pre-Hispanic individuals from the Aburrá Valley, this study offers valuable insights into the history of human migration and settlement in the Americas. Furthermore, it enhances our comprehension of the intricate genetic tapestry that characterizes indigenous communities in the area.

Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution

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The genetic structure and adaptation of Andean highlanders and Amazonians are influenced by the interplay between geography and culture

Western South America was one of the worldwide cradles of civilization. The well-known Inca Empire was the tip of the iceberg of an evolutionary process that started 11,000 to 14,000 years ago. Genetic data from 18 Peruvian populations reveal the following: 1) The between-population homogenization of the central southern Andes and its differentiation with respect to Amazonian populations of similar latitudes do not extend northward. Instead, longitudinal gene flow between the northern coast of Peru, Andes, and Amazonia accompanied cultural and socioeconomic interactions revealed by archeology. This pattern recapitulates the environmental and cultural differentiation between the fertile north, where altitudes are lower, and the arid south, where the Andes are higher, acting as a genetic barrier between the sharply different environments of the Andes and Amazonia. 2) The genetic homogenization between the populations of the arid Andes is not only due to migrations during the Inca Empire or the subsequent colonial period. It started at least during the earlier expansion of the Wari Empire (600 to 1,000 years before present). 3) This demographic history allowed for cases of positive natural selection in the high and arid Andes vs. the low Amazon tropical forest: in the Andes, a putative enhancer in HAND2-AS1 (heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2 antisense RNA1, a noncoding gene related to cardiovascular function) and rs269868-C/Ser1067 in DUOX2 (dual oxidase 2, related to thyroid function and innate immunity) genes and, in the Amazon, the gene encoding for the CD45 protein, essential for antigen recognition by T and B lymphocytes in viral-host interaction.

Molecular characterization of mitochondrial Amerindian haplogroups and the amelogenin gene in human ancient DNA from three archaeological sites in Lambayeque - Peru

Important pre-Inca civilizations, known by their great political and religious structures, inhabited the northern coast of Peru. Archeological and anthropological studies have shown that people from these villages have hierarchical strata, but the genetic structure has been poorly studied. Here, we aimed to perform a molecular characterization of the Amerindian maternal lineages and the amelogenin gene in skeletons collected from three archeological sites in Lambayeque. Ancient DNA (aDNA) samples were analyzed with conventional PCR to assess the nine-base pair (9 bp) deletion corresponding to mitochondrial haplogroup B and the identification of haplogroups A, C, and D were obtained with PCR-RFLP experiments. The sex was characterized via amplification of the AMEL(X/Y) locus. Haplogroup frequencies were compared with available data from other ancient and modern civilizations from the Peruvian coast and highlands using statistical methods. Our results showed that haplogroup C had the highest frequency, while haplogroup B showed variable diversity in the analyzed populations. The meta-analysis revealed a positive correlation among some coastal villages. We concluded that ancient populations analyzed in our study showed the presence of four Amerindian mitochondrial haplogroups, which is consistent with previous studies.

A Paleogenomic Reconstruction of the Deep Population History of the Andes

There are many unanswered questions about the population history of the Central and South Central Andes, particularly regarding the impact of large-scale societies, such as the Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, and Inca. We assembled genome-wide data on 89 individuals dating from ∼9,000-500 years ago (BP), with a particular focus on the period of the rise and fall of state societies. Today's genetic structure began to develop by 5,800 BP, followed by bi-directional gene flow between the North and South Highlands, and between the Highlands and Coast. We detect minimal admixture among neighboring groups between ∼2,000-500 BP, although we do detect cosmopolitanism (people of diverse ancestries living side-by-side) in the heartlands of the Tiwanaku and Inca polities. We also highlight cases of long-range mobility connecting the Andes to Argentina and the Northwest Andes to the Amazon Basin. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

The Current Genomic Landscape of Western South America: Andes, Amazonia, and Pacific Coast

Studies of Native South American genetic diversity have helped to shed light on the peopling and differentiation of the continent, but available data are sparse for the major ecogeographic domains. These include the Pacific Coast, a potential early migration route; the Andes, home to the most expansive complex societies and to one of the most widely spoken indigenous language families of the continent (Quechua); and Amazonia, with its understudied population structure and rich cultural diversity. Here, we explore the genetic structure of 176 individuals from these three domains, genotyped with the Affymetrix Human Origins array. We infer multiple sources of ancestry within the Native American ancestry component; one with clear predominance on the Coast and in the Andes, and at least two distinct substrates in neighboring Amazonia, including a previously undetected ancestry characteristic of northern Ecuador and Colombia. Amazonian populations are also involved in recent gene-flow with each other and across ecogeographic domains, which does not accord with the traditional view of small, isolated groups. Long-distance genetic connections between speakers of the same language family suggest that indigenous languages here were spread not by cultural contact alone. Finally, Native American populations admixed with post-Columbian European and African sources at different times, with few cases of prolonged isolation. With our results we emphasize the importance of including understudied regions of the continent in high-resolution genetic studies, and we illustrate the potential of SNP chip arrays for informative regional-scale analysis.

Genetic ancestry of families of putative Inka descent

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.