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. 2006 Jul 7;273(1594):1595-602.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3494.

Origins and evolution of the Europeans' genome: evidence from multiple microsatellite loci

Elise M S Belle  1 , Pierre-Alexandre Landry, Guido Barbujani
Affiliations

Origins and evolution of the Europeans' genome: evidence from multiple microsatellite loci

Elise M S Belle et al. Proc Biol Sci. .

Abstract

There is general agreement that the current European gene pool is mainly derived from Palaeolithic hunting-gathering and Neolithic farming ancestors, but different studies disagree on the relative weight of these contributions. We estimated admixture rates in European populations from data on 377 autosomal microsatellite loci in 235 individuals, using five different numerical methods. On average, the Near Eastern (and presumably Neolithic) contribution was between 46 and 66%, and admixture estimates showed, with all methods, a strong and significant negative correlation with distance from the Near East. If the assumptions of the model are approximately correct, i.e. if the Basques' and Near Easterners' genomes represent a good approximation to the Palaeolithic and Neolithic settlers of Europe, respectively, these results imply that half or more of the Europeans' genes are descended from Near Eastern ancestors who immigrated in Europe 10000 years ago. If these assumptions are incorrect, our results show anyway that clinal variation is the rule in the Europeans' genomes and that lower estimates of Near Eastern admixture obtained from the analysis of single markers do not reflect the patterns observed at the genomic level.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A model for admixture. Solid lines represent genealogical descent, dashed lines represent admixture. The five methods used differ regarding the assumptions and numerical procedures for estimating p1 and p2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Linear regressions of the Near Eastern admixture estimates (p2) in the present-day European populations (in percentages) against the geographic distance (in kilometres) from the Near East, using the five admixture estimators; standard deviations are represented by vertical bars. (a) mR, (b) mC, (c) mY, (d) mL and (e) mW.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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