The Genetic Origin of the Indo-Europeans

The Yamnaya archaeological complex appeared around 3300BCE across the steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas, and by 3000BCE reached its maximal extent from Hungary in the west to Kazakhstan in the east. To localize the ancestral and geographical origins of the Yamnaya among the diverse Eneolithic people that preceded them, we studied ancient DNA data from 428 individuals of which 299 are reported for the first time, demonstrating three previously unknown Eneolithic genetic clines. First, a "Caucasus-Lower Volga" (CLV) Cline suffused with Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG) ancestry extended between a Caucasus Neolithic southern end in Neolithic Armenia, and a steppe northern end in Berezhnovka in the Lower Volga. Bidirectional gene flow across the CLV cline created admixed intermediate populations in both the north Caucasus, such as the Maikop people, and on the steppe, such as those at the site of Remontnoye north of the Manych depression. CLV people also helped form two major riverine clines by admixing with distinct groups of European hunter-gatherers. A "Volga Cline" was formed as Lower Volga people mixed with upriver populations that had more Eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG) ancestry, creating genetically hyper-variable populations as at Khvalynsk in the Middle Volga. A "Dnipro Cline" was formed as CLV people bearing both Caucasus Neolithic and Lower Volga ancestry moved west and acquired Ukraine Neolithic hunter-gatherer (UNHG) ancestry to establish the population of the Serednii Stih culture from which the direct ancestors of the Yamnaya themselves were formed around 4000BCE. This population grew rapidly after 3750-3350BCE, precipitating the expansion of people of the Yamnaya culture who totally displaced previous groups on the Volga and further east, while admixing with more sedentary groups in the west. CLV cline people with Lower Volga ancestry contributed four fifths of the ancestry of the Yamnaya, but also, entering Anatolia from the east, contributed at least a tenth of the ancestry of Bronze Age Central Anatolians, where the Hittite language, related to the Indo-European languages spread by the Yamnaya, was spoken. We thus propose that the final unity of the speakers of the "Proto-Indo-Anatolian" ancestral language of both Anatolian and Indo-European languages can be traced to CLV cline people sometime between 4400-4000 BCE.

Medieval DNA from Soqotra points to Eurasian origins of an isolated population at the crossroads of Africa and Arabia

Soqotra, an island situated at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden in the northwest Indian Ocean between Africa and Arabia, is home to ~60,000 people subsisting through fishing and semi-nomadic pastoralism who speak a Modern South Arabian language. Most of what is known about Soqotri history derives from writings of foreign travellers who provided little detail about local people, and the geographic origins and genetic affinities of early Soqotri people has not yet been investigated directly. Here we report genome-wide data from 39 individuals who lived between ~650 and 1750 CE at six locations across the island and document strong genetic connections between Soqotra and the similarly isolated Hadramawt region of coastal South Arabia that likely reflects a source for the peopling of Soqotra. Medieval Soqotri can be modelled as deriving ~86% of their ancestry from a population such as that found in the Hadramawt today, with the remaining ~14% best proxied by an Iranian-related source with up to 2% ancestry from the Indian sub-continent, possibly reflecting genetic exchanges that occurred along with archaeologically documented trade from these regions. In contrast to all other genotyped populations of the Arabian Peninsula, genome-level analysis of the medieval Soqotri is consistent with no sub-Saharan African admixture dating to the Holocene. The deep ancestry of people from medieval Soqotra and the Hadramawt is also unique in deriving less from early Holocene Levantine farmers and more from groups such as Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers from the Levant (Natufians) than other mainland Arabians. This attests to migrations by early farmers having less impact in southernmost Arabia and Soqotra and provides compelling evidence that there has not been complete population replacement between the Pleistocene and Holocene throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Medieval Soqotra harboured a small population that showed qualitatively different marriage practices from modern Soqotri, with first-cousin unions occurring significantly less frequently than today.

The Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR) a curated compendium of ancient human genomes

More than two hundred papers have reported genome-wide data from ancient humans. While the raw data for the vast majority are fully publicly available testifying to the commitment of the paleogenomics community to open data, formats for both raw data and meta-data differ. There is thus a need for uniform curation and a centralized, version-controlled compendium that researchers can download, analyze, and reference. Since 2019, we have been maintaining the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR), which aims to provide an up-to-date, curated version of the world's published ancient human DNA data, represented at more than a million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at which almost all ancient individuals have been assayed. The AADR has gone through six public releases at the time of writing and review of this manuscript, and crossed the threshold of >10,000 individuals with published genome-wide ancient DNA data at the end of 2022. This note is intended as a citable descriptor of the AADR.

A genetic history of the Balkans from Roman frontier to Slavic migrations

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire was a socio-political process with enormous ramifications for human history. The Middle Danube was a crucial frontier and a crossroads for population and cultural movement. Here, we present genome-wide data from 136 Balkan individuals dated to the 1st millennium CE. Despite extensive militarization and cultural influence, we find little ancestry contribution from peoples of Italic descent. However, we trace a large-scale influx of people of Anatolian ancestry during the Imperial period. Between ∼250 and 550 CE, we detect migrants with ancestry from Central/Northern Europe and the Steppe, confirming that "barbarian" migrations were propelled by ethnically diverse confederations. Following the end of Roman control, we detect the large-scale arrival of individuals who were genetically similar to modern Eastern European Slavic-speaking populations, who contributed 30%-60% of the ancestry of Balkan people, representing one of the largest permanent demographic changes anywhere in Europe during the Migration Period.

Genetic continuity and change among the Indigenous peoples of California

Before the colonial period, California harboured more language variation than all of Europe, and linguistic and archaeological analyses have led to many hypotheses to explain this diversity1. We report genome-wide data from 79 ancient individuals from California and 40 ancient individuals from Northern Mexico dating to 7,400-200 years before present (BP). Our analyses document long-term genetic continuity between people living on the Northern Channel Islands of California and the adjacent Santa Barbara mainland coast from 7,400 years BP to modern Chumash groups represented by individuals who lived around 200 years BP. The distinctive genetic lineages that characterize present-day and ancient people from Northwest Mexico increased in frequency in Southern and Central California by 5,200 years BP, providing evidence for northward migrations that are candidates for spreading Uto-Aztecan languages before the dispersal of maize agriculture from Mexico2-4. Individuals from Baja California share more alleles with the earliest individual from Central California in the dataset than with later individuals from Central California, potentially reflecting an earlier linguistic substrate, whose impact on local ancestry was diluted by later migrations from inland regions1,5. After 1,600 years BP, ancient individuals from the Channel Islands lived in communities with effective sizes similar to those in pre-agricultural Caribbean and Patagonia, and smaller than those on the California mainland and in sampled regions of Mexico.

The genetic legacy of African Americans from Catoctin Furnace

Few African Americans have been able to trace family lineages back to ancestors who died before the 1870 United States Census, the first in which all Black people were listed by name. We analyzed 27 individuals from Maryland's Catoctin Furnace African American Cemetery (1774-1850), identifying 41,799 genetic relatives among consenting research participants in 23andMe, Inc.'s genetic database. One of the highest concentrations of close relatives is in Maryland, suggesting that descendants of the Catoctin individuals remain in the area. We find that many of the Catoctin individuals derived African ancestry from the Wolof or Kongo groups and European ancestry from Great Britain and Ireland. This study demonstrates the power of joint analysis of historical DNA and large datasets generated through direct-to-consumer ancestry testing.

The Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR): A curated compendium of ancient human genomes

More than two hundred papers have reported genome-wide data from ancient humans. While the raw data for the vast majority are fully publicly available testifying to the commitment of the paleogenomics community to open data, formats for both raw data and meta-data differ. There is thus a need for uniform curation and a centralized, version-controlled compendium that researchers can download, analyze, and reference. Since 2019, we have been maintaining the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR), which aims to provide an up-to-date, curated version of the world's published ancient human DNA data, represented at more than a million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at which almost all ancient individuals have been assayed. The AADR has gone through six public releases since it first was made available and crossed the threshold of >10,000 ancient individuals with genome-wide data at the end of 2022. This note is intended as a citable description of the AADR.

Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: A bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra-West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.

Millennia-old coral holobiont DNA provides insight into future adaptive trajectories

Ancient DNA (aDNA) has been applied to evolutionary questions across a wide variety of taxa. Here, for the first time, we leverage aDNA from millennia-old fossil coral fragments to gain new insights into a rapidly declining western Atlantic reef ecosystem. We sampled four Acropora palmata fragments (dated 4215 BCE - 1099 CE) obtained from two Florida Keys reef cores. From these samples, we established that it is possible both to sequence ancient DNA from reef cores and place the data in the context of modern-day genetic variation. We recovered varying amounts of nuclear DNA exhibiting the characteristic signatures of aDNA from the A. palmata fragments. To describe the holobiont sensu lato, which plays a crucial role in reef health, we utilized metagenome-assembled genomes as a reference to identify a large additional proportion of ancient microbial DNA from the samples. The samples shared many common microbes with modern-day coral holobionts from the same region, suggesting remarkable holobiont stability over time. Despite efforts, we were unable to recover ancient Symbiodiniaceae reads from the samples. Comparing the ancient A. palmata data to whole-genome sequencing data from living acroporids, we found that while slightly distinct, ancient samples were most closely related to individuals of their own species. Together, these results provide a proof-of-principle showing that it is possible to carry out direct analysis of coral holobiont change over time, which lays a foundation for studying the impacts of environmental stress and evolutionary constraints.

Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers

Micronesia began to be peopled earlier than other parts of Remote Oceania, but the origins of its inhabitants remain unclear. We generated genome-wide data from 164 ancient and 112 modern individuals. Analysis reveals five migratory streams into Micronesia. Three are East Asian related, one is Polynesian, and a fifth is a Papuan source related to mainland New Guineans that is different from the New Britain-related Papuan source for southwest Pacific populations but is similarly derived from male migrants ~2500 to 2000 years ago. People of the Mariana Archipelago may derive all of their precolonial ancestry from East Asian sources, making them the only Remote Oceanians without Papuan ancestry. Female-inherited mitochondrial DNA was highly differentiated across early Remote Oceanian communities but homogeneous within, implying matrilocal practices whereby women almost never raised their children in communities different from the ones in which they grew up.

Three assays for in-solution enrichment of ancient human DNA at more than a million SNPs

The strategy of in-solution enrichment for hundreds of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been used to analyze >70% of individuals with genome-scale ancient DNA published to date. This approach makes it economical to study ancient samples with low proportions of human DNA and increases the rate of conversion of sampled remains into interpretable data. So far, nearly all such data have been generated using a set of bait sequences targeting about 1.24 million SNPs (the "1240k reagent"), but synthesis of the reagent has been cost-effective for only a few laboratories. In 2021, two companies, Daicel Arbor Biosciences and Twist Bioscience, made available assays that target the same core set of SNPs along with supplementary content. We test all three assays on a common set of 27 ancient DNA libraries and show that all three are effective at enriching many hundreds of thousands of SNPs. For all assays, one round of enrichment produces data that are as useful as two. In our testing, the "Twist Ancient DNA" assay produces the highest coverages, greatest uniformity on targeted positions, and almost no bias toward enriching one allele more than another relative to shotgun sequencing. We also identify hundreds of thousands of targeted SNPs for which there is minimal allelic bias when comparing 1240k data to either shotgun or Twist data. This facilitates coanalysis of the large data sets that have been generated using 1240k and Twist capture, as well as shotgun sequencing approaches.

Social stratification without genetic differentiation at the site of Kulubnarti in Christian Period Nubia

Relatively little is known about Nubia's genetic landscape prior to the influence of the Islamic migrations that began in the late 1st millennium CE. Here, we increase the number of ancient individuals with genome-level data from the Nile Valley from three to 69, reporting data for 66 individuals from two cemeteries at the Christian Period (~650-1000 CE) site of Kulubnarti, where multiple lines of evidence suggest social stratification. The Kulubnarti Nubians had ~43% Nilotic-related ancestry (individual variation between ~36-54%) with the remaining ancestry consistent with being  introduced through Egypt and ultimately deriving from an ancestry pool like that found in the Bronze and Iron Age Levant. The Kulubnarti gene pool - shaped over a millennium - harbors disproportionately female-associated West Eurasian-related ancestry. Genetic similarity among individuals from the two cemeteries supports a hypothesis of social division without genetic distinction. Seven pairs of inter-cemetery relatives suggest fluidity between cemetery groups. Present-day Nubians are not directly descended from the Kulubnarti Nubians, attesting to additional genetic input since the Christian Period.

Genomic insights into the formation of human populations in East Asia

The deep population history of East Asia remains poorly understood owing to a lack of ancient DNA data and sparse sampling of present-day people1,2. Here we report genome-wide data from 166 East Asian individuals dating to between 6000 BC and AD 1000 and 46 present-day groups. Hunter-gatherers from Japan, the Amur River Basin, and people of Neolithic and Iron Age Taiwan and the Tibetan Plateau are linked by a deeply splitting lineage that probably reflects a coastal migration during the Late Pleistocene epoch. We also follow expansions during the subsequent Holocene epoch from four regions. First, hunter-gatherers from Mongolia and the Amur River Basin have ancestry shared by individuals who speak Mongolic and Tungusic languages, but do not carry ancestry characteristic of farmers from the West Liao River region (around 3000 BC), which contradicts theories that the expansion of these farmers spread the Mongolic and Tungusic proto-languages. Second, farmers from the Yellow River Basin (around 3000 BC) probably spread Sino-Tibetan languages, as their ancestry dispersed both to Tibet-where it forms approximately 84% of the gene pool in some groups-and to the Central Plain, where it has contributed around 59-84% to modern Han Chinese groups. Third, people from Taiwan from around 1300 BC to AD 800 derived approximately 75% of their ancestry from a lineage that is widespread in modern individuals who speak Austronesian, Tai-Kadai and Austroasiatic languages, and that we hypothesize derives from farmers of the Yangtze River Valley. Ancient people from Taiwan also derived about 25% of their ancestry from a northern lineage that is related to, but different from, farmers of the Yellow River Basin, which suggests an additional north-to-south expansion. Fourth, ancestry from Yamnaya Steppe pastoralists arrived in western Mongolia after around 3000 BC but was displaced by previously established lineages even while it persisted in western China, as would be expected if this ancestry was associated with the spread of proto-Tocharian Indo-European languages. Two later gene flows affected western Mongolia: migrants after around 2000 BC with Yamnaya and European farmer ancestry, and episodic influences of later groups with ancestry from Turan.

A minimally destructive protocol for DNA extraction from ancient teeth

Ancient DNA sampling methods-although optimized for efficient DNA extraction-are destructive, relying on drilling or cutting and powdering (parts of) bones and teeth. As the field of ancient DNA has grown, so have concerns about the impact of destructive sampling of the skeletal remains from which ancient DNA is obtained. Due to a particularly high concentration of endogenous DNA, the cementum of tooth roots is often targeted for ancient DNA sampling, but destructive sampling methods of the cementum often result in the loss of at least one entire root. Here, we present a minimally destructive method for extracting ancient DNA from dental cementum present on the surface of tooth roots. This method does not require destructive drilling or grinding, and, following extraction, the tooth remains safe to handle and suitable for most morphological studies, as well as other biochemical studies, such as radiocarbon dating. We extracted and sequenced ancient DNA from 30 teeth (and nine corresponding petrous bones) using this minimally destructive extraction method in addition to a typical tooth sampling method. We find that the minimally destructive method can provide ancient DNA that is of comparable quality to extracts produced from teeth that have undergone destructive sampling processes. Further, we find that a rigorous cleaning of the tooth surface combining diluted bleach and UV light irradiation seems sufficient to minimize external contaminants usually removed through the physical removal of a superficial layer when sampling through regular powdering methods.

A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean

Humans settled the Caribbean about 6,000 years ago, and ceramic use and intensified agriculture mark a shift from the Archaic to the Ceramic Age at around 2,500 years ago1-3. Here we report genome-wide data from 174 ancient individuals from The Bahamas, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (collectively, Hispaniola), Puerto Rico, Curaçao and Venezuela, which we co-analysed with 89 previously published ancient individuals. Stone-tool-using Caribbean people, who first entered the Caribbean during the Archaic Age, derive from a deeply divergent population that is closest to Central and northern South American individuals; contrary to previous work4, we find no support for ancestry contributed by a population related to North American individuals. Archaic-related lineages were >98% replaced by a genetically homogeneous ceramic-using population related to speakers of languages in the Arawak family from northeast South America; these people moved through the Lesser Antilles and into the Greater Antilles at least 1,700 years ago, introducing ancestry that is still present. Ancient Caribbean people avoided close kin unions despite limited mate pools that reflect small effective population sizes, which we estimate to be a minimum of 500-1,500 and a maximum of 1,530-8,150 individuals on the combined islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola in the dozens of generations before the individuals who we analysed lived. Census sizes are unlikely to be more than tenfold larger than effective population sizes, so previous pan-Caribbean estimates of hundreds of thousands of people are too large5,6. Confirming a small and interconnected Ceramic Age population7, we detect 19 pairs of cross-island cousins, close relatives buried around 75 km apart in Hispaniola and low genetic differentiation across islands. Genetic continuity across transitions in pottery styles reveals that cultural changes during the Ceramic Age were not driven by migration of genetically differentiated groups from the mainland, but instead reflected interactions within an interconnected Caribbean world1,8.

ContamLD: estimation of ancient nuclear DNA contamination using breakdown of linkage disequilibrium

We report a method called ContamLD for estimating autosomal ancient DNA (aDNA) contamination by measuring the breakdown of linkage disequilibrium in a sequenced individual due to the introduction of contaminant DNA. ContamLD leverages the idea that contaminants should have haplotypes uncorrelated to those of the studied individual. Using simulated data, we confirm that ContamLD accurately infers contamination rates with low standard errors: for example, less than 1.5% standard error in cases with less than 10% contamination and 500,000 sequences covering SNPs. This method is optimized for application to aDNA, taking advantage of characteristic aDNA damage patterns to provide calibrated contamination estimates, and is available at https://github.com/nathan-nakatsuka/ContamLD .

Author Correction: The spread of steppe and Iranian-related ancestry in the islands of the western Mediterranean

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Human auditory ossicles as an alternative optimal source of ancient DNA

DNA recovery from ancient human remains has revolutionized our ability to reconstruct the genetic landscape of the past. Ancient DNA research has benefited from the identification of skeletal elements, such as the cochlear part of the osseous inner ear, that provides optimal contexts for DNA preservation; however, the rich genetic information obtained from the cochlea must be counterbalanced against the loss of morphological information caused by its sampling. Motivated by similarities in developmental processes and histological properties between the cochlea and auditory ossicles, we evaluate the ossicles as an alternative source of ancient DNA. We show that ossicles perform comparably to the cochlea in terms of DNA recovery, finding no substantial reduction in data quantity and minimal differences in data quality across preservation conditions. Ossicles can be sampled from intact skulls or disarticulated petrous bones without damage to surrounding bone, and we argue that they should be used when available to reduce damage to human remains. Our results identify another optimal skeletal element for ancient DNA analysis and add to a growing toolkit of sampling methods that help to better preserve skeletal remains for future research while maximizing the likelihood that ancient DNA analysis will produce useable results.

Human auditory ossicles as an alternative optimal source of ancient DNA

DNA recovery from ancient human remains has revolutionized our ability to reconstruct the genetic landscape of the past. Ancient DNA research has benefited from the identification of skeletal elements, such as the cochlear part of the osseous inner ear, that provides optimal contexts for DNA preservation; however, the rich genetic information obtained from the cochlea must be counterbalanced against the loss of morphological information caused by its sampling. Motivated by similarities in developmental processes and histological properties between the cochlea and auditory ossicles, we evaluate the ossicles as an alternative source of ancient DNA. We show that ossicles perform comparably to the cochlea in terms of DNA recovery, finding no substantial reduction in data quantity and minimal differences in data quality across preservation conditions. Ossicles can be sampled from intact skulls or disarticulated petrous bones without damage to surrounding bone, and we argue that they should be used when available to reduce damage to human remains. Our results identify another optimal skeletal element for ancient DNA analysis and add to a growing toolkit of sampling methods that help to better preserve skeletal remains for future research while maximizing the likelihood that ancient DNA analysis will produce useable results.

The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages.

An Ancient Harappan Genome Lacks Ancestry from Steppe Pastoralists or Iranian Farmers

We report an ancient genome from the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC). The individual we sequenced fits as a mixture of people related to ancient Iranians (the largest component) and Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers, a unique profile that matches ancient DNA from 11 genetic outliers from sites in Iran and Turkmenistan in cultural communication with the IVC. These individuals had little if any Steppe pastoralist-derived ancestry, showing that it was not ubiquitous in northwest South Asia during the IVC as it is today. The Iranian-related ancestry in the IVC derives from a lineage leading to early Iranian farmers, herders, and hunter-gatherers before their ancestors separated, contradicting the hypothesis that the shared ancestry between early Iranians and South Asians reflects a large-scale spread of western Iranian farmers east. Instead, sampled ancient genomes from the Iranian plateau and IVC descend from different groups of hunter-gatherers who began farming without being connected by substantial movement of people.

The genomic history of the Iberian Peninsula over the past 8000 years

We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula. We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming. We reveal sporadic contacts between Iberia and North Africa by ~2500 BCE and, by ~2000 BCE, the replacement of 40% of Iberia's ancestry and nearly 100% of its Y-chromosomes by people with Steppe ancestry. We show that, in the Iron Age, Steppe ancestry had spread not only into Indo-European-speaking regions but also into non-Indo-European-speaking ones, and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as a typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia. Additionally, we document how, beginning at least in the Roman period, the ancestry of the peninsula was transformed by gene flow from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.

Ancient DNA reveals a multistep spread of the first herders into sub-Saharan Africa

How food production first entered eastern Africa ~5000 years ago and the extent to which people moved with livestock is unclear. We present genome-wide data from 41 individuals associated with Later Stone Age, Pastoral Neolithic (PN), and Iron Age contexts in what are now Kenya and Tanzania to examine the genetic impacts of the spreads of herding and farming. Our results support a multiphase model in which admixture between northeastern African-related peoples and eastern African foragers formed multiple pastoralist groups, including a genetically homogeneous PN cluster. Additional admixture with northeastern and western African-related groups occurred by the Iron Age. These findings support several movements of food producers while rejecting models of minimal admixture with foragers and of genetic differentiation between makers of distinct PN artifacts.

Cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy for peritoneal carcinomatosis from rare etiologies

BACKGROUND

Cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) are commonly used in the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) originating from colorectal, appendiceal and ovarian cancers. It is unclear what benefit CRS/HIPEC might have for PC from uncommon etiologies, therefore we sought to describe local practice patterns and evaluate overall survival (OS).

METHODS

All patients who had CRS/HIPEC between 2000 and 2016 were identified using our institutional cancer database. Patients with appendiceal, colorectal, and ovarian pathologies were excluded. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate and demonstrate 5-year OS. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with OS.

RESULTS

Of all patients treated with CRS/HIPEC at our institution, 38 were treated for PC of rare origin. Etiologies included 23 patients with mesothelioma, 8 with primary peritoneal carcinoma, 4 with small bowel tumours and 3 with gastric cancer. Median OS of 35.4, 20.8, 25.4, and 20.2 months were obtained for each group respectively. 5-year OS for each pathology was 8.7%, 0.0%, 25.0%, and 33.3% respectively with corresponding mean PCI of 31.3, 23.6, 21.5, and 12.7. No independent prognostic factors were significant on Cox regression analysis. Median length of stay was 19 days. Readmission rate within 30 days of discharge was 7.9%. Rate of Grade III/IV complications was 34.2%. No thirty-day mortality.

CONCLUSION

Survivals beyond 20 months can be obtained with the use of CRS/HIPEC for rare PC etiologies aligning with results of other groups. CRS/HIPEC in well-selected patients demonstrates a clinical benefit and this could be confirmed with a multi-institutional study.

Characterization of the role of EGF-A of low density lipoprotein receptor in PCSK9 binding

Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-like 9 (PCSK9) promotes the degradation of low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and plays an important role in regulating plasma LDL-cholesterol levels. We have shown that the epidermal growth factor precursor homology domain A (EGF-A) of the LDLR is critical for PCSK9 binding at the cell surface (pH 7.4). Here, we further characterized the role of EGF-A in binding of PCSK9 to the LDLR. We found that PCSK9 efficiently bound to the LDLR but not to other LDLR family members. Replacement of EGF-A in the very low density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) with EGF-A of the LDLR promoted the degradation of the mutant VLDLR induced by PCSK9. Furthermore, we found that PCSK9 bound to recombinant EGF-A in a pH-dependent manner with stronger binding at pH 6.0. We also identified amino acid residues in EGF-A of the LDLR important for PCSK9 binding. Mutations G293H, D299V, L318D, and L318H reduced PCSK9 binding to the LDLR at neutral pH without effect at pH 6.0, while mutations R329P and E332G reduced PCSK9 binding at both pH values. Thus, our findings reveal that EGF-A of the LDLR is critical for PCSK9 binding at the cell surface (neutral pH) and at the acidic endosomal environment (pH 6.0), but different determinants contribute to efficient PCSK9 binding in different pH environments.

Near point-source longitudinal and transverse mode ultrasonic arrays for material characterization

Specially constructed near point-source ultrasonic transducers (0.75 MHz) were designed to preferentially stimulate and receive the one longitudinal (P) and two transverse (S) propagation modes. Arrays of these transducers were placed on a rectangular prism of common sodalime glass, which served as an ideal homogeneous, isotropic medium, to evaluate the uncertainty of a newly developed phase velocity measurement method. Through the use of the Radon transform, the data were transformed from the offset-time (x-t) domain to the intercept time--horizontal slowness (tau-p) domain. From the shape of the curves in the tau-p domain, the phase velocity of the propagating waves may be determined for a range of directions. The phase velocities determined using this method were accurate for incidence angles up to 76 degrees, 64 degrees, and 77 degrees for the P, SV, and SH wave modes, respectively. Phase velocities of 5724 +/- 64, 3411 +/- 30, and 3467 +/- 15 m/s were determined for the P-wave, SV-wave, and SH-wave modes, respectively. This agrees with the direct transmission P-wave and S-wave velocities of 5690 +/- 60 and 3440 +/- 26 m/s, respectively, to better than 1%.

Directed evolution of new glycosynthases from Agrobacterium β-glucosidase: a general screen to detect enzymes for oligosaccharide synthesis

BACKGROUND

Oligosaccharide synthesis is becoming increasingly important to industry as diverse therapeutic roles for these molecules are discovered. The chemical synthesis of oligosaccharides on an industrial scale is often prohibitively complex and costly. An alternative, that of enzymatic synthesis, is limited by the difficulty of obtaining an appropriate enzyme. A general screen for enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of the glycosidic bond would enable the identification and engineering of new or improved enzymes.

RESULTS

Glycosynthases are nucleophile mutants of retaining glycosidases that efficiently catalyze the synthesis of the glycosidic linkage by condensing an activated glycosyl fluoride donor with a suitable acceptor sugar. A novel agar plate-based coupled-enzyme screen was developed (using a two-plasmid system) and used to select an improved glycosynthase from a library of mutants.

CONCLUSIONS

Plate-based coupled-enzyme screens of this type are extremely valuable for identification of functional synthetic enzymes and can be applied to the evolution of a range of glycosyl transferases.

The correlation of agglutination titer with positive blood cultures in brucellosis: A comparison of two study periods

Brucellosis is an endemic zoonosis in Saudi Arabia. Correlation of Brucella agglutination antibody titer with positive blood culture was performed over 2 time periods (1986 and 1998). At the King Fahad National Guard Hospital we generally consider a titer value of 1:320 or greater as being diagnostic of Brucella. Using this cut-off, the positive predictive value of 39.3% (95% CI=31.5 to 47.6) in the 1986 study increased to 55.7% (95% CI=42.4 to 68.5) in the recent study (P=0.03). This improvement is probably due to parallel improvement in both methodologies.

Wound infections after hysterectomy: opportunities for practice improvement

BACKGROUND

This study was designed to determine the frequency of surgical site infection development after discharge from the hospital after abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy and the frequency of use of antimicrobial prophylaxis in this patient group.

METHODS

A prospective cohort study was performed on patients undergoing abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy between February 1 and December 31, 1995. Surgeons were contacted 1 month after the operations to determine which patients had acquired surgical site infections. Surgical site infection rates were calculated according to procedure, surgeon, and National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system risk categories. A retrospective pharmacy record review was conducted to determine antimicrobial prophylaxis use according to procedure and surgeon.

RESULTS

A total of 763 cases were surveyed; 55 (7.2%) met criteria for postoperative surgical site infection (7.7% abdominal and 4.5% vaginal hysterectomy). National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system moderate-risk patients had significantly higher infection rates than did low-risk patients for both abdominal (p = 0.045) and vaginal (p = 0.05) procedures. Most patients (71.1%) were not given antimicrobial prophylaxis. There was a wide range of antimicrobial prophylaxis use by surgeon (3.6% to 94.4% of patients, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Despite long-standing and widespread recommendations for antimicrobial prophylaxis before hysterectomy, most of our patients were operated on without such prophylaxis. Surveillance programs permit detailed review of patient care practices that may reveal opportunities for improvement.

Alteration of baroreflex control of forearm vascular resistance by dietary fatty acids

The effects of dietary safflower (control, n = 10), borage (n = 9), and fish oil (n = 10), as sources of linoleic, gamma-linolenic, and eicosapentaenoic acid, respectively, at a dose of 4.5 ml/day for 4 wk, on cardiovascular responses to lower body negative pressure (LBNP) were studied in normotensive humans in a randomized, double-blind design. Pre- and postsupplementation, subjects were exposed to 5 min of -10 and -40 mmHg LBNP. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), forearm blood flow (FBF), forearm vascular resistance (FVR), and plasma norepinephrine (PNE) were measured at each level. Subjects were then exposed to a cold-pressor test, isometric handgrip, and forearm ischemia. At pretest, LBNP reduced BP and FBF and increased HR and FVR in all groups. After diets, the PNE and vasoconstrictor responses to -40 mmHg LBNP, as well as the reflex vasodilation on its cessation, were significantly augmented by borage oil. No diet differences were observed in the HR responses to LBNP or in the responses to the other tasks, with the exception that fish oil increased FBF after forearm ischemia. These data indicate that borage oil augments the arterial baroreflex control of vascular resistance. The vasodilatory effects of fish oil may be mediated via local mechanisms.

Dietary N-6 and N-3 fatty acids and salt-induced hypertension in the borderline hypertensive rat

This study examined the effects of salt-loading on blood pressure (BP) development in the borderline hypertensive rat (BHR) and its modification by dietary n-3 and n-6 fatty acids. In experiment 1, 4 groups (n = 10/group) of male BHR receiving 1% NaCl as a replacement for tap water were placed on chow enriched with either olive oil (OL), sunflower oil (SUN), evening primrose oil (EPO) or fish oil for 6 weeks. BP, heart rate, body weight, water, Na+ and K+ intake and urinary output were measured weekly. SUN and fish oil reduced the pressor response to salt seen vs the OL group by 50%, and EPO abolished the pressor response, reducing BP below control levels. The BP response was unrelated to either food intake or water and electrolyte intake and excretion. In experiment 2, male BHR received water +/- 18:3n-6 (0.04 mg/hr in OL via ip pump) or 1% NaCl +/- 18:3n-6 (n = 12/group) for 12 weeks, followed by 2 weeks recovery on tap water. Salt increased BP, and 18:3n-6 decreased this response, but had no effect on animals receiving tap water. In experiment 3, effects of 3 doses of 18:3n-6 (0.04, 0.08, and 0.12 mg/hr) on the pressor response to 1% NaCl were examined. All doses reduced the BP response to salt vs controls with no dose-response. These data suggest that the BHR is genetically salt-sensitive, and that dietary n-3 and n-6 fatty acids can attenuate the cardiovascular response to salt in this model.

How toxic are propoxyphene and ethanol in combination?

Ethanol has been claimed to potentiate greatly the lethality of propoxyphene, although published clinical data suggest only an additive effect. Mice were treated intraperitoneally with various doses of propoxyphene hydrochloride and ethanol. Isobolograms of the data show the combination to be less-than-additive for lethality and loss of motor coordination and, at worst, simply additive for sedation.

The use of rotating gratings for the treatment of amblyopia: a clinical trial

The use of rotating gratings for the treatment of amblyopia was subjected to a controlled clinical trial. A treatment group (N = 19) observed rotating gratings for 15 min per week for 10 weeks and a control group (N = 19) observed a blank rotating disk for the same period. Both groups of amblyopes performed visually guided tasks to maintain their interest during treatment. Data were acquired in a double-masked manner. A second control group (N = 4) underwent weekly acuity evaluation without any form of treatment. Visual acuity was evaluated before and after each session and analyzed with a linear regression fit to a probit transform by a minicomputer. By using a criterion change in acuity of 10% Snell Sterling, we found no significant change of acuity in any group or between groups. These results demonstrate that rotating gratings are an insignificant variable in the treatment of amblyopia.