Ancient Mitochondrial M Haplogroups Identified in the Southwest Pacific

Based on whole mtDNA sequencing of 14 samples from Northern Island Melanesia, we characterize three formerly unresolved branches of macrohaplogroup M that we call haplogroups M27, M28, and M29. Our 1,399 mtDNA control region sequences and a literature search indicate these haplogroups have extremely...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 102; no. 37; pp. 13034 - 13039
Main Authors Merriwether, D. Andrew, Hodgson, Jason A., Friedlaender, Françoise R., Allaby, Robin, Cerchio, Salvatore, Koki, George, Friedlaender, Jonathan S., Green, R. C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 13.09.2005
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Ancient Lands - ethnology
Anthropology
Base Sequence
Biological Sciences
DNA, Mitochondrial - analysis
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial - history
Ethnolinguistics
Evolutionary biology
Genetic mutation
Genetic Variation
Geographic regions
Haplotypes
History, Ancient
Human genetics
Humans
Locus Control Region
Melanesia - ethnology
Mitochondrial DNA
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleotides
Oceania
Phylogeny
Polymerase chain reaction
Polynesian studies
Sequencing
Ancient Lands
Melanesia
ISEW, Pacific
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Summary:Based on whole mtDNA sequencing of 14 samples from Northern Island Melanesia, we characterize three formerly unresolved branches of macrohaplogroup M that we call haplogroups M27, M28, and M29. Our 1,399 mtDNA control region sequences and a literature search indicate these haplogroups have extremely limited geographical distributions. Their coding region variation suggests diversification times older than the estimated date for the initial settlement of Northern Island Melanesia. This finding indicates that they were among the earliest mtDNA variants to appear in these islands or in the ancient continent of Sahul. These haplogroups from Northern Island Melanesia extend the existing schema for macrohaplogroup M, with many independent branches distributed across Asia, East Africa, Australia, and Near Oceania.
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Author contributions: D.A.M. and J.S.F. designed research; J.A.H., S.C., and G.K. performed research; F.R.F. and R.A. analyzed data; and J.S.F. wrote the paper.
Communicated by R. C. Green, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, July 21, 2005
Abbreviation: YBP, years before present.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: andym@binghamton.edu.
Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. DQ137398–DQ137411).
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0506195102