Genetic Evidence of Paleolithic Colonization and Neolithic Expansion of Modern Humans on the Tibetan Plateau

• DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mst093
• Publication Date: 2013-05-17T04:37:04Z
• Authors: Xuebin Qi; Chaoying Cui; Yi Peng; Xiaoming Zhang; Zhaohui Yang; Hua Zhong; Hui Zhang; Kun Xiang; Xiangyu Cao; Yi Wang; Ouzhuluobu; Basang; Ciwangsangbu; Bianba; Gonggalanzi; Tianyi Wu; Hua Chen; Hong Shi; Bing Su
• Keywords: Ancient DNA; Human migration; Middle Paleolithic; Demographic history

Tibetans live on the highest plateau in world, their current population size is approximately 5 million, and most of them at an altitude exceeding 3,500 m. Therefore, Tibetan Plateau a remarkable area for cultural biological studies human history. However, chronological profile Plateau’s colonization remains unsolved question prehistory. To reconstruct prehistoric demographic history modern humans Plateau, we systematically sampled 6,109 individuals from 41 geographic populations across entire region analyzed phylogeographic patterns both paternal (n = 2,354) maternal 6,109) lineages as well genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers 50) populations. We found that there have been two distinct, major migrations into Plateau. The first migration was marked by ancient genetic signatures dated to 30,000 years ago, indicating initial peopling occurred during Upper Paleolithic rather than Neolithic. also evidences relatively young (only 7–10 thousand old) shared Y chromosome mitochondrial DNA haplotypes between Han Chinese, suggesting second wave early Collectively, data indicate adapted high environment since Paleolithic, before last glacial maximum, followed rapid expansion coincided with establishment farming yak pastoralism