The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic.

The New World Arctic, the last region of the Americas to be populated by humans, has a relatively well-researched archaeology, but an understanding of its genetic history is lacking. We present genome-wide sequence data from ancient and present-day humans from Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions.

Investigating the prehistory of Tungusic peoples of Siberia and the Amur-Ussuri region with complete mtDNA genome sequences and Y-chromosomal markers.

Evenks and Evens, Tungusic-speaking reindeer herders and hunter-gatherers, are spread over a wide area of northern Asia, whereas their linguistic relatives the Udegey, sedentary fishermen and hunter-gatherers, are settled to the south of the lower Amur River. The prehistory and relationships of these Tungusic peoples are as yet poorly investigated, especially with respect to their interactions with neighbouring populations. In this study, we analyse over 500 complete mtDNA genome sequences from nine different Evenk and even subgroups as well as their geographic neighbours from Siberia and their linguistic relatives the Udegey from the Amur-Ussuri region in order to investigate the prehistory of the Tungusic populations.

Genetic architecture of a small, recently aggregated Aleut population: Bering Island, Russia.

The fishing community of Bering Island, located in the Russian Commander Islands off the Kamchatka Peninsula, was originally founded by a small number of Russian soldiers and merchants, along with Aleuts forcibly relocated from the western region of the Aleutian archipelago. The purpose of this study is to characterize the genetic variation of Bering Island inhabitants for autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosome DNA and classic genetic markers and to investigate the genetic impact of the 19th-century founding and subsequent demographic events on this heterogeneous community. Our results show a loss of diversity among maternal lineages in the Bering Aleut population, with fixation of mtDNA haplogroup D, as revealed by median-joining network analysis and mismatch differences.

Genetic structure of native circumpolar populations based on autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosome DNA markers.

This study investigates the genetic structure of the present-day inhabitants of Beringia in order to answer questions concerning their origins and evolution. According to recent studies, the ancestors of Native Americans paused for a time in Beringia, during which they differentiated genetically from other Asians before peopling the New World. Furthermore, the Koryaks of Kamchatka share a "ubiquitous" allele (D9S1120) with Native Americans, indicating they may have descended from the same ancestral Beringian population that gave rise to the New World founders.

Haplotype frequencies at the DRD2 locus in populations of the East European Plain.

Background: It was demonstrated previously that the three-locus RFLP haplotype, TaqI B-TaqI D-TaqI A (B-D-A), at the DRD2 locus constitutes a powerful genetic marker and probably reflects the most ancient dispersal of anatomically modern humans.

Results: We investigated TaqI B, BclI, MboI, TaqI D, and TaqI A RFLPs in 17 contemporary populations of the East European Plain and Siberia. Most of these populations belong to the Indo-European or Uralic language families.

Reduced fat oxidation and obesity risks among the Buryat of Southern Siberia.

Over the last 20 years, obesity and associated metabolic diseases have emerged as major global health problems. Among urbanizing populations of developing regions of the world, childhood undernutrition often coexists with adult overnutrition, a phenomenon known as the "dual nutritional burden". A recent work (Frisancho 2003: Am J Hum Biol 15:522-532) suggests that linear growth stunting in early childhood may contribute to adult obesity by reducing the body's ability to oxidize fat.

Genetic structure of the Aleuts and Circumpolar populations based on mitochondrial DNA sequences: a synthesis.

The mtDNA variation of 198 Aleuts, as well as North American and Asian populations drawn from the literature, were analyzed to reconstruct the Aleuts' genetic prehistory and to investigate their role in the peopling of the Circumarctic region. From median-joining network analysis, three star-like clusters were identified in the Aleuts within the following subhaplogroups: A3, A7 (an Aleut-specific subclade of A3), and D2. Mismatch analyses, neutrality test scores, and coalescent time estimates for these three components provided evidence of two expansion events, one occurring at approximately 19,900 B.

Genetic analysis of reproduction in the Buryat populations.

A complex anthropological survey based on population-genetic methods and a study of a wide spectrum of genetic systems (43 alleles from 17 independent loci) was undertaken among 450 Buryat women of post-reproductive age. The results obtained showed the influence of particular genetic markers and their complex on the formation of peculiarities in the reproduction structure of the Buryat population.A sharp increase in phenotype GC 2-2 frequency and the corresponding GC*2 allele of the group-specific component (GC) was established for women groups with burdened obstetric records.

Mitochondrial DNA evidence for admixed origins of central Siberian populations.

The Yakuts of northeastern Siberia are a Turkic-speaking population of horse- and cattle-breeders surrounded by Tungusic-speaking reindeer-herders and hunter-gatherers. Archaeological and ethnohistorical data suggest that Yakuts stem from a common ancestral population with the Buryats living near Lake Baikal. To address this hypothesis, we obtained sequences of the first hypervariable segment (HV1) of the mitochondrial DNA control region from Yakuts and Buryats and compared these with sequences from other Eurasian populations.

Climatic influences on basal metabolic rates among circumpolar populations.

This article examines evidence for elevations in basal metabolic rate (BMR) among indigenous Northern (circumpolar) populations and considers potential mechanisms and the adaptive basis for such elevations. Data on BMR among indigenous (n = 109 males; 122 females) and nonindigenous (n = 15 males; 22 females) circumpolar groups of North America and Siberia are compiled and compared to predicted BMRs based on three different references: body surface area (Consolazio et al., 1963), body mass (Schofield, 1985), and fat-free mass (Poehlman and Toth, 1995).

Analysis of CCR5Delta32 geographic distribution and its correlation with some climatic and geographic factors.

We studied the possible effects of climatic-geographic factors on the world distribution of the mutant allele for the chemokine receptor gene CCR5, which has a 32-bp deletion (CCR5Delta32) preventing cell invasion by the primary transmitting strain of HIV-1. New data on CCR5 polymorphisms in Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldavian populations are presented. All available data on CCR5Delta32 frequencies in the Old World (number of populations n = 77) were used for construction of a geographical gene map to analyze possible correlations between allele frequencies and eight climatic-geographic parameters.