State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China; Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China; Department of Paleoanthropology, Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Kunming 650118, China.
Curr Biol. 2022 Jul 25;32(14):3095-3109.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.016. Epub 2022 Jul 14.
Southern East Asia is the dispersal center regarding the prehistoric settlement and migrations of modern humans in Asia-Pacific regions. However, the settlement pattern and population structure of paleolithic humans in this region remain elusive, and ancient DNA can provide direct information. Here, we sequenced the genome of a Late Pleistocene hominin (MZR), dated ∼14.0 thousand years ago from Red Deer Cave located in Southwest China, which was previously reported possessing mosaic features of modern and archaic hominins. MZR is the first Late Pleistocene genome from southern East Asia. Our results indicate that MZR is a modern human who represents an early diversified lineage in East Asia. The mtDNA of MZR belongs to an extinct basal lineage of the M9 haplogroup, reflecting a rich matrilineal diversity in southern East Asia during the Late Pleistocene. Combined with the published data, we detected clear genetic stratification in ancient southern populations of East/Southeast Asia and some degree of south-versus-north divergency during the Late Pleistocene, and MZR was identified as a southern East Asian who exhibits genetic continuity to present day populations. Markedly, MZR is linked deeply to the East Asian ancestry that contributed to First Americans.
东南亚南部是史前亚洲-太平洋地区现代人类迁徙和定居的扩散中心。然而，该地区旧石器时代人类的定居模式和人口结构仍不清楚，古 DNA 可以提供直接的信息。在这里，我们对来自中国西南部红鹿洞的一位晚更新世人类（MZR）的基因组进行了测序，其年代约为 14000 年前。该样本先前被报道具有现代人和古人类的镶嵌特征。MZR 是来自东南亚南部的第一个晚更新世人类基因组。我们的研究结果表明，MZR 是一位现代人类，代表了东亚的一个早期多样化谱系。MZR 的 mtDNA 属于已经灭绝的 M9 单倍群的一个基础谱系，反映了晚更新世期间东南亚南部丰富的母系多样性。结合已发表的数据，我们在东亚/东南亚的古代南部人群中检测到了明显的遗传分层，以及晚更新世时期的一定程度的南北分歧，MZR 被鉴定为一个与现代人群具有遗传连续性的东南亚南部人类。值得注意的是，MZR 与贡献了第一批美洲人的东亚祖先有着深厚的联系。
