Archaeology Augments Tibet's Genetic History—Response

• DOI: 10.1126/science.329.5998.1467-b
• Publication Date: 2010-09-16T18:10:45Z
• Authors: Xin Yi; Yu Liang; Emilia Huerta-San...; Xin Jin; Zha Xi Ping Cuo; John E. Pool; Xun Xu; Hui Jiang; Nicolas Vinckenbosch; Thorfinn Sand Kor...; Hancheng Zheng; Tao Liu; Weiming He; Kui Li; Ruibang Luo; Xifang Nie; Honglong Wu; Meiru Zhao; Hongzhi Cao; Jing Zou; Ying Shan; Shuzheng Li; Qi Yang; Asan; Peixiang Ni; Geng Tian; Junming Xu; Xiao Liu; Tao Jiang; Renhua Wu; Guangyu Zhou; Meifang Tang; Junjie Qin; Tong Wang; Shuijian Feng; Guohong Li; Huasang; Jiangbai Luosang; Wei Wang; Fang Chen; Yading Wang; Xiaoguang Zheng; Zhuo Li; Zhuoma Bianba; Ge Yang; Xinping Wang; Shuhui Tang; Guoyi Gao; Yong Chen; Zhen Luo; Lamu Gusang; Zheng Cao; Qinghui Zhang; Weihan Ouyang; Xiaoli Ren; Huiqing Liang; Huisong Zheng; Yebo Huang; Jingxiang Li; Lars Bolund; Karsten Kristiansen; Yingrui Li; Yong Zhang; Xiuqing Zhang; Ruiqiang Li; Songgang Li; Huanming Yang; Rasmus Nielsen; Jun Wang; Jian Wang
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Multidisciplinary

We thank Brantingham et al. for their interest in our study; we agree that both molecular and archaeological evidence should be used to understand the demographic history of the Tibetan people. Our Report focused not on the demographic history of the Tibetan population, but rather the selection acting on specific putatively adaptive mutations segregating in the Tibetan population. We included some limited demographic analyses because they helped illuminate our results regarding natural selection. The real demographic model is clearly likely to be more complex than the simple models of two populations diverging from each other. For example, Zhao et al. ([ 1 ][1]) used mitochondrial DNA to argue that late settlers of the Tibetan plateau may not have entirely replaced the original population but that a small proportion of them carry mitochondrial DNA lineages tracing back to Late Paleolithic inhabitants on the plateau. If this is the case, even if the EPAS1 variant was present in the early inhabitants of Tibet, strong selection would be needed to increase its frequency in the modern Tibetan gene pool. The understanding that the majority of the current population of the Tibetan plateau may trace their genetic ancestry back to quite recent immigrants into Tibet, even though humans have lived in Tibet for a much longer time—possibly with some continuity of culture—is important for understanding the difference between inferences based on archaeology and inferences based on genetics. 1. [↵][2] 1. M. Zhao 2. et al ., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 21230 (2009). [OpenUrl][3][Abstract/FREE Full Text][4] [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [3]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DProc.%2BNatl.%2BAcad.%2BSci.%2BU.S.A.%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1073%252Fpnas.0907844106%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F19955425%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [4]: /lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiQUJTVCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6NDoicG5hcyI7czo1OiJyZXNpZCI7czoxMjoiMTA2LzUwLzIxMjMwIjtzOjQ6ImF0b20iO3M6MjU6Ii9zY2kvMzI5LzU5OTgvMTQ2Ny4yLmF0b20iO31zOjg6ImZyYWdtZW50IjtzOjA6IiI7fQ==