| Literature DB >> 28162894 |
Eppie R Jones1, Gunita Zarina2, Vyacheslav Moiseyev3, Emma Lightfoot4, Philip R Nigst5, Andrea Manica6, Ron Pinhasi7, Daniel G Bradley8.
Abstract
The Neolithic transition was a dynamic time in European prehistory of cultural, social, and technological change. Although this period has been well explored in central Europe using ancient nuclear DNA [1, 2], its genetic impact on northern and eastern parts of this continent has not been as extensively studied. To broaden our understanding of the Neolithic transition across Europe, we analyzed eight ancient genomes: six samples (four to ∼1- to 4-fold coverage) from a 3,500 year temporal transect (∼8,300-4,800 calibrated years before present) through the Baltic region dating from the Mesolithic to the Late Neolithic and two samples spanning the Mesolithic-Neolithic boundary from the Dnieper Rapids region of Ukraine. We find evidence that some hunter-gatherer ancestry persisted across the Neolithic transition in both regions. However, we also find signals consistent with influxes of non-local people, most likely from northern Eurasia and the Pontic Steppe. During the Late Neolithic, this Steppe-related impact coincides with the proposed emergence of Indo-European languages in the Baltic region [3, 4]. These influences are distinct from the early farmer admixture that transformed the genetic landscape of central Europe, suggesting that changes associated with the Neolithic package in the Baltic were not driven by the same Anatolian-sourced genetic exchange.Entities:
Keywords: Baltic; Neolithic transition; Ukraine; ancient DNA; genomics; population genetics
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2017 PMID: 28162894 PMCID: PMC5321670 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.060
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Curr Biol ISSN: 0960-9822 Impact factor: 10.834
Figure 1Geographic Location and Chronologies for Latvian and Ukrainian Sites
Radiocarbon dates (in cal BP) are shown under the sample name. Mean genome coverage is shown in yellow squares, mitochondrial haplogroups in blue squares, and Y chromosome haplogroups for male samples (where discernible) in magenta squares. The chronology of the Latvian site of Zvejnieki is adapted from [21]. The Ukrainian chronology is taken from [18, 22, 23].
Alignment and Contamination Results for Latvian and Ukrainian Ancient Samples
| Sample | Site | Context | Burial | Aligned Reads | Aligned Reads (%) | MT Coverage | MT Contamination (c+md/c−md) | X Contamination (Test 1/Test 2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latvia_HG1 | Zvejnieki | Mesolithic; Kunda culture | 313 | 54,784,565 | 49.26 | 47.83 | 0.68/0.04 | − |
| Latvia_HG2 | Zvejnieki | Mesolithic; Narva culture | 93 | 172,707,718 | 55.99 | 114.97 | 0.94/0.19 | 0.92 ± 0.08/0.88 ± 0.17 |
| Latvia_HG3 | Zvejnieki | Mesolithic/Early Neolithic | 121 | 37,749,963 | 45.51 | 40.29 | 0.77/0.10 | 0.99 ± 0.26/0.72 ± 0.37 |
| Latvia_MN1 | Zvejnieki | Middle Neolithic | 124 | 6,648,453 | 5.22 | 8.14 | 0.97/0.50 | − |
| Latvia_MN2 | Zvejnieki | Middle Neolithic; Comb Ware culture | 221 | 59,800,396 | 37.51 | 48.54 | 0.69/0.10 | − |
| Latvia_LN1 | Zvejnieki | Late Neolithic; Corded Ware culture | 137 | 9,222,060 | 7.48 | 9.58 | 1.09/0.00 | − |
| Ukraine_HG1 | Vasilyevka | Mesolithic | 37 | 9,528,908 | 4.30 | 5.49 | 0.29/0.29 | − |
| Ukraine_N1 | Vovnigi | Neolithic; Dnieper-Donets culture | 2 | 10,741,415 | 12.04 | 6.06 | 1.06 0.28 | − |
MT, mitochondria; c+md, percentage contamination including sites with potentially damaged bases; c−md, percentage contamination excluding sites with potentially damaged bases. For X chromosome contamination estimation, two tests were performed as described by Rasmussen et al. [24]. Test 1 used all high-quality reads provided per sample, whereas only a single read was sampled per site for test 2, thereby removing the assumption of independent error rates. The associated p values calculated using Fisher’s exact test [24] were ≤0.05 for all tests. See also Table S1 for imputed genotypes probabilities for selected loci.
Figure 2PCA and ADMIXTURE Analysis for Ancient Latvian and Ukrainian Samples
(A) Ancient data presented in this study as well as published ancient data (see Data S1 for sample details) were projected onto the first two principal components defined by selected modern Eurasians from the Human Origins dataset (see the Supplemental Experimental Procedures). Our Latvian Mesolithic samples cluster tightly together between western and eastern hunter-gatherers in PCA space, whereas the Latvian Neolithic samples are more variable in their position, suggesting impacts from exogenous populations. The Ukrainian Mesolithic and Neolithic samples fall close together between western and eastern hunter-gatherers, suggesting a degree of continuity across the Mesolithic-Neolithic boundary in this region.
(B) ADMIXTURE ancestry components (K = 17) [25] for ancient samples showing that the Latvian Neolithic samples do not have the yellow component that dominates in Anatolian and early European farmers. The Latvian and Ukrainian samples presented in this study are displayed in a gray box and at twice the height of the other ancient samples for ease of visualization. The arrow shows an Estonian Bronze Age sample (RISE00) [26] that has a yellow component, suggesting that an early European farmer genetic influence had arrived in the Baltic by the Bronze Age.
HG, hunter-gatherer; BA, Bronze Age; W, western; C, Central. See also Figures S1–S4.
Key D Statistics of the Form D(A,B; X,Y) for Latvian Samples
| A | B | X | Y | Z Score | Loci | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mbuti | 0.0787 | 13.064 | 103,420 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0281 | −4.797 | 103,420 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.1065 | −17.418 | 103,420 | |||
| Mbuti_AF | 0.0427 | 1.459 | 7,261 | |||
| Mbuti_AF | 0.0249 | 0.907 | 8,289 | |||
| Mbuti_AF | 0.0181 | 0.685 | 9,026 | |||
| Mbuti | Zapotec | 0.0295 | 4.171 | 74,461 | ||
| Mbuti | Guarani | 0.0303 | 4.027 | 74,461 | ||
| Mbuti | Aymara | 0.0282 | 3.926 | 74,461 | ||
| Mbuti | 0.0346 | 3.734 | 70,000 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0658 | 3.519 | 19,541 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0381 | 3.441 | 53,389 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0312 | 2.081 | 20,994 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0275 | 1.483 | 16,000 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0203 | 1.457 | 19,027 | |||
| Mbuti | 0.0319 | 1.320 | 9,481 | |||
| Mbuti | Iranian_Jew_WA | 0.0106 | 1.091 | 20,998 | ||
| Mbuti | −0.0013 | −0.108 | 16,255 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0055 | −0.476 | 16,272 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0246 | −3.607 | 74,355 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0335 | −5.055 | 74,460 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0221 | −2.136 | 20,969 | |||
| Mbuti | −0.0308 | −2.952 | 20,998 | |||
Latvia_HG, Latvian hunter-gatherers; WHG, western hunter-gatherers; EHG, eastern hunter-gatherers; Iran_LN, Iranian Late Neolithic; Anatolia_ChL, Anatolian Chalcolithic; CHG, Caucasus hunter-gatherers; Iran_N, Iranian Neolithic; Iran_ChL, Iranian Chalcolithic; Anatolian_N, Anatolian Neolithic; Europe_EN, European Early Neolithic. Tests performed using the whole genome panel are italicized; otherwise, tests were performed using the Human Origin transversion SNP panel. Ancient samples are shown in bold. Samples include in each ancient group can be found in Data S1. See Table S1 for key D statistics for Ukrainian samples.
The Latvian Mesolithic samples share more affinity to WHG than to EHG, but they do not belong entirely to either group.
There is no evidence for admixture in our Latvian Neolithic sample, Latvia_MN1 (the three largest positive statistics are shown).
There is an eastern influence in the Latvian Middle Neolithic sample, Latvia_MN2, as compared to the Latvian Mesolithic samples (the three most significantly positive results with ancient and modern populations/individuals from the Human Origins SNP panel dataset are shown).
Largest positive results for the test D(Mbuti, X; Latvia_HG, Latvia_LN1). ADMIXTURE results suggest that there may have been a CHG-related influence in Latvia during the Late Neolithic period; however, although D statistics to test this are positive, they do not reach significance.
We do not find evidence for early European/Anatolian farmer admixture in our Latvian Neolithic samples.