Colombo Giulia, Moroni Elisabetta, Raveane Alessandro, Rambaldi Migliore Nicola, Agostini Vincenzo, Di Gerlando Rosalinda, Fiorini Claudio, Caporali Leonardo, Gandini Francesca, Raimondi Elena, D'Atanasio Eugenia, Lancioni Hovirag, Carelli Valerio, Pala Maria, Trombetta Beniamino, Novelletto Andrea, Dugoujon Jean-Michel, Achilli Alessandro, Torroni Antonio, Richards Martin B, Cruciani Fulvio, Semino Ornella, Olivieri Anna
Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Lazzaro Spallanzani", University of Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy.
Molecular Biology and Transcriptomic Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 25;15(1):27025. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12209-x.
North Africa occupies a unique geographical position in the Mediterranean basin. The genetic profile of modern North African populations is the result of ancient and recent movements of people and periods of isolation. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive mitogenome analysis based on unbiased population sampling from across North Africa including a dataset of 733 modern (238 of which new) and 43 ancient mitogenomes from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, compared with modern mitogenomes from Eurasia and sub-Saharan Africa. Our analyses, based on a phylogeographic and demographic approach suggest that mitogenome variability in North African populations (i) can be traced back to three main origins - Eurasia, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa - and (ii) has been defined during crucial key time periods - from the Palaeolithic to the last millennia. In particular, we identified a signal for population movements from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa during the favourable climatic period of the Green Sahara, providing evidence from complete mitogenomes that the human dispersals associated with this period also involved females.
北非在地中海盆地占据着独特的地理位置。现代北非人群的基因特征是古代和近代人口迁移以及隔离时期的结果。在本文中，我们基于对北非各地无偏差的人群采样进行了全面的线粒体基因组分析，包括来自摩洛哥、阿尔及利亚、突尼斯、利比亚和埃及的733个现代线粒体基因组（其中238个是新的）和43个古代线粒体基因组数据集，并与来自欧亚大陆和撒哈拉以南非洲的现代线粒体基因组进行了比较。我们基于系统地理学和人口统计学方法的分析表明，北非人群的线粒体基因组变异性：（i）可追溯到三个主要起源——欧亚大陆、北非和撒哈拉以南非洲；（ii）在关键时期——从旧石器时代到最后一千年——得以确定。特别是，我们在“绿色撒哈拉”的有利气候时期发现了从撒哈拉以南非洲到北非的人口迁移信号，完整线粒体基因组提供的证据表明，与这一时期相关的人类扩散也涉及女性。
