Neolithic to Bronze Age human maternal genetic history in Yunnan, China

Xinyu Wei; Ming Zhang; Rui Min; Zhilong Jiang; Jiayang Xue; Zhonghua Zhu; Haibing Yuan; Xiaorui Li; Dongyue Zhao; Peng Cao; Feng Liu; Qingyan Dai; Xiaotian Feng; Ruowei Yang; Xiaohong Wu; Changcheng Hu; Minmin Ma; Xu Liu; Yang Wan; Fan Yang; Ranchao Zhou; Lihong Kang; Guanghui Dong; Wanjing Ping; Tianyi Wang; Bo Miao; Fan Bai; Yuxin Zheng; Yuxiao Liu; Melinda A. Yang; Wenjun Wang; E. Andrew Bennett; Qiaomei Fu

doi:10.1016/j.jgg.2024.09.013

Volume 52 Issue 4

Apr. 2025

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Neolithic to Bronze Age human maternal genetic history in Yunnan, China

doi: 10.1016/j.jgg.2024.09.013

a. China-Central Asia "the Belt and Road" Joint Laboratory on Human and Environment Research, Key Laboratory of Cultural Heritage Research and Conservation, School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710127, China;
b. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;
c. Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Kunming, Yunnan 650118, China;
d. College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
e. Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, China;
f. School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
g. Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;
h. Yunnan Museum, Kunming, Yunnan 650206, China;
i. College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, China;
j. Sino-Danish Center, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
k. Department of Biology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA;
l. Science and Technology Archaeology, National Centre for Archaeology, Beijing 100013, China

Funds:

Xiaohong Wu was supported by the Key National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 16ZDA144).

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41925009), National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFE0203800), the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China (YSBR-019), Science and Technology Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (2024RS-CXTD-74)

Received Date: 2024-05-14
Accepted Date: 2024-09-23
Rev Recd Date: 2024-09-23

Available Online: 2025-07-11

Publish Date: 2024-09-27

Abstract

Abstract

Yunnan in southwest China is a geographically and ethnically complex region at the intersection of southern China and Southeast Asia, and a focal point for human migrations. To clarify its maternal genetic history, we generated 152 complete mitogenomes from 17 Yunnan archaeological sites. Our results reveal distinct genetic histories segregated by geographical regions. Maternal lineages of ancient populations from northwestern and northern Yunnan exhibit closer affinities with past and present-day populations from northern East Asia and Xizang, providing important genetic evidence for the migration and interaction of populations along the Tibetan-Yi corridor since the Neolithic. Between 5500 and 1800 years ago, central Yunnan populations maintained their internal genetic relationships, including a 7000-year-old basal lineage of the rare and widely dispersed haplogroup M61. At the Xingyi site, changes in mitochondrial DNA haplogroups occurred between the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, with haplogroups shifting from those predominant in the Yellow River region to those predominant in coastal southern China. These results highlight the high diversity of Yunnan populations during the Neolithic to Bronze Age.
- Ancient DNA,
- Yunnan,
- Genetic history,
- Mitochondrial genomes,
- Neolithic,
- Bronze age

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