Multiple Human Population Movements and Cultural Dispersal Events Shaped the Landscape of Chinese Paternal Heritage

Mengge Wang; Yuguo Huang; Kaijun Liu; Zhiyong Wang; Menghan Zhang; Haibing Yuan; Shuhan Duan; Lanhai Wei; Hongbing Yao; Qiuxia Sun; Jie Zhong; Renkuan Tang; Jing Chen; Yuntao Sun; Xiangping Li; Haoran Su; Qingxin Yang; Liping Hu; Libing Yun; Junbao Yang; Shengjie Nie; Yan Cai; Jiangwei Yan; Kun Zhou; Chuanchao Wang; 10K_CPGDP Consortium; Bofeng Zhu; Chao Liu; Guanglin He

doi:10.1093/molbev/msae122

Multiple Human Population Movements and Cultural Dispersal Events Shaped the Landscape of Chinese Paternal Heritage

Mol Biol Evol. 2024 Jul 3;41(7):msae122. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msae122.

Authors

Mengge Wang^{1

2

3}, Yuguo Huang¹, Kaijun Liu^{4

5}, Zhiyong Wang^{1

6}, Menghan Zhang^{7

8}, Haibing Yuan², Shuhan Duan^{1

9}, Lanhai Wei¹⁰, Hongbing Yao¹¹, Qiuxia Sun^{1

12}, Jie Zhong¹, Renkuan Tang¹², Jing Chen^{1

13}, Yuntao Sun^{1

14}, Xiangping Li^{1

6}, Haoran Su^{1

15}, Qingxin Yang^{1

6}, Liping Hu⁶, Libing Yun¹⁴, Junbao Yang¹⁶, Shengjie Nie⁶, Yan Cai¹⁵, Jiangwei Yan¹³, Kun Zhou⁵, Chuanchao Wang¹⁷; 10K_CPGDP Consortium; Bofeng Zhu^{18

19}, Chao Liu^{18

20}, Guanglin He^{1

2}

Collaborators

10K_CPGDP Consortium:
Guanglin He, Chao Liu, Mengge Wang, Renkuan Tang, Libing Yun, Junbao Yang, Chuan-Chao Wang, Jiangwei Yan, Bofeng Zhu, Liping Hu, Shengjie Nie, Hongbing Yao

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Rare Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610000, China.
² Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610000, China.
³ Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
⁴ School of International Tourism and Culture, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550025, China.
⁵ MoFang Human Genome Research Institute, Tianfu Software Park, Chengdu, Sichuan 610042, China.
⁶ School of Forensic Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650500, China.
⁷ Institute of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁸ Research Institute of Intelligent Complex Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁹ School of Basic Medical Sciences, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637100, China.
¹⁰ School of Ethnology and Anthropology, Institute of Humanities and Human Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China.
¹¹ Belt and Road Research Center for Forensic Molecular Anthropology Gansu University of Political Science and Law, Lanzhou 730000, China.
¹² Department of Forensic Medicine, College of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400331, China.
¹³ School of Forensic Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Jinzhong 030001, China.
¹⁴ Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences & Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
¹⁵ School of Laboratory Medicine and Center for Genetics and Prenatal Diagnosis, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Sichuan 637007, China.
¹⁶ Institute of Basic Medicine and Forensic Medicine, North Sichuan Medical College and Center for Genetics and Prenatal Diagnosis, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Sichuan 637007, China.
¹⁷ State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
¹⁸ Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Forensic Multi-Omics for Precision Identification, School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
¹⁹ Microbiome Medicine Center, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China.
²⁰ Anti-Drug Technology Center of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510230, China.

Abstract

Large-scale genomic projects and ancient DNA innovations have ushered in a new paradigm for exploring human evolutionary history. However, the genetic legacy of spatiotemporally diverse ancient Eurasians within Chinese paternal lineages remains unresolved. Here, we report an integrated Y-chromosome genomic database encompassing 15,563 individuals from both modern and ancient Eurasians, including 919 newly reported individuals, to investigate the Chinese paternal genomic diversity. The high-resolution, time-stamped phylogeny reveals multiple diversification events and extensive expansions in the early and middle Neolithic. We identify four major ancient population movements, each associated with technological innovations that have shaped the Chinese paternal landscape. First, the expansion of early East Asians and millet farmers from the Yellow River Basin predominantly carrying O2/D subclades significantly influenced the formation of the Sino-Tibetan people and facilitated the permanent settlement of the Tibetan Plateau. Second, the dispersal of rice farmers from the Yangtze River Valley carrying O1 and certain O2 sublineages reshapes the genetic makeup of southern Han Chinese, as well as the Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, Hmong-Mien, and Austroasiatic people. Third, the Neolithic Siberian Q/C paternal lineages originated and proliferated among hunter-gatherers on the Mongolian Plateau and the Amur River Basin, leaving a significant imprint on the gene pools of northern China. Fourth, the J/G/R paternal lineages derived from western Eurasia, which were initially spread by Yamnaya-related steppe pastoralists, maintain their presence primarily in northwestern China. Overall, our research provides comprehensive genetic evidence elucidating the significant impact of interactions with culturally distinct ancient Eurasians on the patterns of paternal diversity in modern Chinese populations.

Keywords: Y-chromosome phylogeny; YanHuang cohort; evolutionary history; founding lineage.

MeSH terms

China
Chromosomes, Human, Y* / genetics
DNA, Ancient / analysis
East Asian People
Human Migration*
Humans
Male
Paternal Inheritance
Phylogeny

Substances

DNA, Ancient

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding