ALBERT

Description: Kennewick Man, referred to as the Ancient One by Native Americans, is a male human skeleton discovered in Washington state (USA) in 1996 and initially radiocarbon dated to 8,340-9,200 calibrated years before present (BP). His population affinities have been the subject of scientific debate and legal controversy. Based on an initial study of cranial morphology it was asserted that Kennewick Man was neither Native American nor closely related to the claimant Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest, who claimed ancestral relationship and requested repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The morphological analysis was important to judicial decisions that Kennewick Man was not Native American and that therefore NAGPRA did not apply. Instead of repatriation, additional studies of the remains were permitted. Subsequent craniometric analysis affirmed Kennewick Man to be more closely related to circumpacific groups such as the Ainu and Polynesians than he is to modern Native Americans. In order to resolve Kennewick Man's ancestry and affiliations, we have sequenced his genome to approximately 1x coverage and compared it to worldwide genomic data including for the Ainu and Polynesians. We find that Kennewick Man is closer to modern Native Americans than to any other population worldwide. Among the Native American groups for whom genome-wide data are available for comparison, several seem to be descended from a population closely related to that of Kennewick Man, including the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), one of the five tribes claiming Kennewick Man. We revisit the cranial analyses and find that, as opposed to genome-wide comparisons, it is not possible on that basis to affiliate Kennewick Man to specific contemporary groups. We therefore conclude based on genetic comparisons that Kennewick Man shows continuity with Native North Americans over at least the last eight millennia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rasmussen, Morten -- Sikora, Martin -- Albrechtsen, Anders -- Korneliussen, Thorfinn Sand -- Moreno-Mayar, J Victor -- Poznik, G David -- Zollikofer, Christoph P E -- Ponce de Leon, Marcia S -- Allentoft, Morten E -- Moltke, Ida -- Jonsson, Hakon -- Valdiosera, Cristina -- Malhi, Ripan S -- Orlando, Ludovic -- Bustamante, Carlos D -- Stafford, Thomas W Jr -- Meltzer, David J -- Nielsen, Rasmus -- Willerslev, Eske -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 23;523(7561):455-8. doi: 10.1038/nature14625.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Littlefield Center, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. ; The Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark. ; Program in Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Anthropological Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland. ; 1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia. ; Department of Anthropology and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 209F Davenport Hall, 607 Matthews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. ; 1] Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Littlefield Center, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Center for Evolutionary and Human Genomics, Stanford University, Littlefield Center, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; 1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] AMS, 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics &Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. ; Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA. ; 1] Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark [2] Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 4134 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26087396" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Prehistoric population structure associated with the transition to an agricultural lifestyle in Europe remains a contentious idea. Population-genomic data from 11 Scandinavian Stone Age human remains suggest that hunter-gatherers had lower genetic diversity than that of farmers. Despite their close geographical proximity, the genetic differentiation between the two Stone Age groups was greater than that observed among extant European populations. Additionally, the Scandinavian Neolithic farmers exhibited a greater degree of hunter-gatherer-related admixture than that of the Tyrolean Iceman, who also originated from a farming context. In contrast, Scandinavian hunter-gatherers displayed no significant evidence of introgression from farmers. Our findings suggest that Stone Age foraging groups were historically in low numbers, likely owing to oscillating living conditions or restricted carrying capacity, and that they were partially incorporated into expanding farming groups.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Skoglund, Pontus -- Malmstrom, Helena -- Omrak, Ayca -- Raghavan, Maanasa -- Valdiosera, Cristina -- Gunther, Torsten -- Hall, Per -- Tambets, Kristiina -- Parik, Juri -- Sjogren, Karl-Goran -- Apel, Jan -- Willerslev, Eske -- Stora, Jan -- Gotherstrom, Anders -- Jakobsson, Mattias -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 May 16;344(6185):747-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1253448. Epub 2014 Apr 24.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden. ; Department of Archaeology and Classical studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1350, Denmark. ; Department of Archaeology, Environment and Community Planning, La Trobe University, Melbourne VIC 3086, Australia. ; Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 171 77, Sweden. ; Evolutionary Biology Group, Estonian Biocentre and University of Tartu, Tartu 51010, Estonia. ; Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, 405 30, Sweden. ; Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Lund, 221 00, Sweden. ; Department of Archaeology and Classical studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden. tsarapkin@googlemail.com mattias.jakobsson@ebc.uu.se. ; Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden. Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden. tsarapkin@googlemail.com mattias.jakobsson@ebc.uu.se.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24762536" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: How and when the Americas were populated remains contentious. Using ancient and modern genome-wide data, we found that the ancestors of all present-day Native Americans, including Athabascans and Amerindians, entered the Americas as a single migration wave from Siberia no earlier than 23 thousand years ago (ka) and after no more than an 8000-year isolation period in Beringia. After their arrival to the Americas, ancestral Native Americans diversified into two basal genetic branches around 13 ka, one that is now dispersed across North and South America and the other restricted to North America. Subsequent gene flow resulted in some Native Americans sharing ancestry with present-day East Asians (including Siberians) and, more distantly, Australo-Melanesians. Putative "Paleoamerican" relict populations, including the historical Mexican Pericues and South American Fuego-Patagonians, are not directly related to modern Australo-Melanesians as suggested by the Paleoamerican Model.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733658/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733658/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Raghavan, Maanasa -- Steinrucken, Matthias -- Harris, Kelley -- Schiffels, Stephan -- Rasmussen, Simon -- DeGiorgio, Michael -- Albrechtsen, Anders -- Valdiosera, Cristina -- Avila-Arcos, Maria C -- Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo -- Eriksson, Anders -- Moltke, Ida -- Metspalu, Mait -- Homburger, Julian R -- Wall, Jeff -- Cornejo, Omar E -- Moreno-Mayar, J Victor -- Korneliussen, Thorfinn S -- Pierre, Tracey -- Rasmussen, Morten -- Campos, Paula F -- Damgaard, Peter de Barros -- Allentoft, Morten E -- Lindo, John -- Metspalu, Ene -- Rodriguez-Varela, Ricardo -- Mansilla, Josefina -- Henrickson, Celeste -- Seguin-Orlando, Andaine -- Malmstrom, Helena -- Stafford, Thomas Jr -- Shringarpure, Suyash S -- Moreno-Estrada, Andres -- Karmin, Monika -- Tambets, Kristiina -- Bergstrom, Anders -- Xue, Yali -- Warmuth, Vera -- Friend, Andrew D -- Singarayer, Joy -- Valdes, Paul -- Balloux, Francois -- Leboreiro, Ilan -- Vera, Jose Luis -- Rangel-Villalobos, Hector -- Pettener, Davide -- Luiselli, Donata -- Davis, Loren G -- Heyer, Evelyne -- Zollikofer, Christoph P E -- Ponce de Leon, Marcia S -- Smith, Colin I -- Grimes, Vaughan -- Pike, Kelly-Anne -- Deal, Michael -- Fuller, Benjamin T -- Arriaza, Bernardo -- Standen, Vivien -- Luz, Maria F -- Ricaut, Francois -- Guidon, Niede -- Osipova, Ludmila -- Voevoda, Mikhail I -- Posukh, Olga L -- Balanovsky, Oleg -- Lavryashina, Maria -- Bogunov, Yuri -- Khusnutdinova, Elza -- Gubina, Marina -- Balanovska, Elena -- Fedorova, Sardana -- Litvinov, Sergey -- Malyarchuk, Boris -- Derenko, Miroslava -- Mosher, M J -- Archer, David -- Cybulski, Jerome -- Petzelt, Barbara -- Mitchell, Joycelynn -- Worl, Rosita -- Norman, Paul J -- Parham, Peter -- Kemp, Brian M -- Kivisild, Toomas -- Tyler-Smith, Chris -- Sandhu, Manjinder S -- Crawford, Michael -- Villems, Richard -- Smith, David Glenn -- Waters, Michael R -- Goebel, Ted -- Johnson, John R -- Malhi, Ripan S -- Jakobsson, Mattias -- Meltzer, David J -- Manica, Andrea -- Durbin, Richard -- Bustamante, Carlos D -- Song, Yun S -- Nielsen, Rasmus -- Willerslev, Eske -- 098051/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 261213/European Research Council/International -- 2R01HG003229-09/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- BB/H005854/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- R01-AI17892/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01-GM094402/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):aab3884. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3884. Epub 2015 Jul 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. ; Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK. ; Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, Building 208, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. ; Departments of Biology and Statistics, Pennsylvania State University, 502 Wartik Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ; The Bioinformatics Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaloes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane Building, Room L331, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. Integrative Systems Biology Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu 51010, Estonia. ; Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane Building, Room L331, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Institute for Human Genetics, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. ; School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Post Office Box 644236, Heald 429, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia/Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigacao Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Rua dos Bragas 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 607 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ; Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolucion y Comportamiento Humano, Madrid, Spain. ; Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Moneda 13, Centro, Cuauhtemoc, 06060 Mexico City, Mexico. ; University of Utah, Department of Anthropology, 270 S 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; Department of Evolutionary Biology and Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Norbyvagen 18D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Acceleration Mass Spectrometry 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark. ; Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane Building, Room L331, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Laboratorio Nacional de Genomica para la Biodiversidad (LANGEBIO), Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados, Irapuato, Guanajuato 36821, Mexico. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. ; Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. Evolutionsbiologiskt Centrum, Norbyvagen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK. ; Centre for Past Climate Change and Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Post Office Box 243, Reading, UK. ; School of Geographical Sciences, University Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK. ; Genetics Institute, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; Escuela Nacional de AntropologIa e Historia, Periferico Sur y Zapote s/n Colonia Isidro Fabela, Tlalpan, Isidro Fabela, 14030 Mexico City, Mexico. ; Instituto de Investigacion en Genetica Molecular, Universidad de Guadalajara, Ocotlan, Mexico. ; Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali (BiGeA), Universita di Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy. ; Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, 238 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA. ; Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Universite Paris 7 Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, Sorbonne Universites, Unite Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (UMR7206), Paris, France. ; Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. ; Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia. ; Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany. ; Department of Archaeology, Memorial University, Queen's College, 210 Prince Philip Drive, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada. ; Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Group, B321 Croul Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. ; Instituto de Alta Investigacion, Universidad de Tarapaca, 18 de Septiembre 2222, Carsilla 6-D Arica, Chile. ; Departamento de Antropologia, Universidad de Tarapaca, 18 de Septiembre 2222, Carsilla 6-D Arica, Chile. ; Fundacao Museu do Homem Americano, Centro Cultural Sergio Motta, Campestre, 64770-000 Sao Raimundo Nonato, Brazil. ; Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moleculaire et Imagerie de Synthese UMR-5288, CNRS, Universite de Toulouse, 31073 Toulouse, France. ; Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Lavrentyeva 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia. Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova Street, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia. ; Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Lavrentyeva 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia. Institute of Internal Medicine, Siberian Branch of RAS, 175/1 ul. B. Bogatkova, Novosibirsk 630089, Russia. Novosibirsk State University, Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Bioinformatics, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia. ; Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Gubkina 3, 119333 Moscow, Russia. Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Moskvorechie 1, 115478 Moscow, Russia. ; Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya 3, 650000 Kemerovo, Russia. ; Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Gubkina 3, 119333 Moscow, Russia. ; Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Oktyabrya 71, 450054 Ufa, Russia. Department of Genetics and Fundamental Medicine, Bashkir State University, Zaki Validi 32, 450076 Ufa, Russia. ; Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Lavrentyeva 10, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia. ; Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Moskvorechie 1, 115478 Moscow, Russia. ; Department of Molecular Genetics, Yakut Scientific Centre of Complex Medical Problems, Sergelyahskoe Shosse 4, 677010 Yakutsk, Russia. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Natural Sciences, M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, 677000 Yakutsk, Russia. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Prospekt Oktyabrya 71, 450054 Ufa, Russia. ; Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Russian Academy of Sciences, Portovaya Street 18, Magadan 685000, Russia. ; Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA. ; Department of Anthropology, Northwest Community College, 353 Fifth Street, Prince Rupert, British Columbia V8J 3L6, Canada. ; Canadian Museum of History, 100 Rue Laurier, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M8, Canada. University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Metlakatla Treaty Office, Post Office Box 224, Prince Rupert, BC V8J 3P6, Canada. ; Sealaska Heritage Institute, 105 S. Seward Street, Juneau, AK 99801, USA. ; Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, D100 Fairchild Science Building, Stanford, CA 94305-5126, USA. ; School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Post Office Box 644236, Heald 429, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA. ; Estonian Biocentre, Evolutionary Biology Group, Tartu 51010, Estonia. Division of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Henry Wellcome Building, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 1QH, UK. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. ; Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Boulevard, 622 Fraser Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. ; Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, 209 Young Hall, Department of Anthropology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA. Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA. ; Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352, USA. ; Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, USA. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 607 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Carle R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA. ; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. ; Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building 3140, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ewillierslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu yss@berkeley.edu. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building 3140, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ewillierslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu yss@berkeley.edu. ; Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark. ewillierslev@snm.ku.dk rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu yss@berkeley.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26198033" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Although an inverse relationship is expected in ancient DNA samples between the number of surviving DNA fragments and their length, ancient DNA sequencing libraries are strikingly deficient in molecules shorter than 40 bp. We find that a loss of short molecules can occur during DNA extraction and present an improved...

Description: The consequences of the Neolithic transition in Europe—one of the most important cultural changes in human prehistory—is a subject of great interest. However, its effect on prehistoric and modern-day people in Iberia, the westernmost frontier of the European continent, remains unresolved. We present, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide sequence...

Description: : We present bammds , a practical tool that allows visualization of samples sequenced by second-generation sequencing when compared with a reference panel of individuals (usually genotypes) using a multidimensional scaling algorithm. Our tool is aimed at determining the ancestry of unknown samples—typical of ancient DNA data—particularly when only low amounts of data are available for those samples. Availability and implementation: The software package is available under GNU General Public License v3 and is freely available together with test datasets https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/bammds/ . It is using R ( http://www.r-project.org/ ), parallel ( http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/ ), samtools ( https://github.com/samtools/samtools ). Contact: bammds-users@nongnu.org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Description: The exact timing, route, and process of the initial peopling of the Americas remains uncertain despite much research. Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of humans as far as southern Chile by 14.6 thousand years ago (ka), shortly after the Pleistocene ice sheets blocking access from eastern Beringia began to retreat. Genetic estimates of the timing and route of entry have been constrained by the lack of suitable calibration points and low genetic diversity of Native Americans. We sequenced 92 whole mitochondrial genomes from pre-Columbian South American skeletons dating from 8.6 to 0.5 ka, allowing a detailed, temporally calibrated reconstruction of the peopling of the Americas in a Bayesian coalescent analysis. The data suggest that a small population entered the Americas via a coastal route around 16.0 ka, following previous isolation in eastern Beringia for ~2.4 to 9 thousand years after separation from eastern Siberian populations. Following a rapid movement throughout the Americas, limited gene flow in South America resulted in a marked phylogeographic structure of populations, which persisted through time. All of the ancient mitochondrial lineages detected in this study were absent from modern data sets, suggesting a high extinction rate. To investigate this further, we applied a novel principal components multiple logistic regression test to Bayesian serial coalescent simulations. The analysis supported a scenario in which European colonization caused a substantial loss of pre-Columbian lineages.