The Tibetan-Yi region is both a corridor and a barrier for human gene flow

Zhe Zhang; Yanlin Zhang; Yinan Wang; Zicheng Zhao; Melinda Yang; Lin Zhang; Bin Zhou; Bingying Xu; Hongbo Zhang; Teng Chen; Wenkui Dai; Yong Zhou; Shuo Shi; Rasmus Nielsen; Shuai Cheng Li; Shengbin Li

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110720

The Tibetan-Yi region is both a corridor and a barrier for human gene flow

Zhe Zhang, Yanlin Zhang, Yinan Wang, Zicheng Zhao, Melinda Yang, Lin Zhang, Bin Zhou, Bingying Xu, Hongbo Zhang, Teng Chen, Wenkui Dai, Yong Zhou, Shuo Shi, Rasmus Nielsen^*, Shuai Cheng Li^*, Shengbin Li^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Computer Science

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

98 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The Tibetan-Yi Corridor (TYC) region between Tibet and the rest of east Asia has served as a crossroads for human migrations for thousands of years. The lack of whole-genome sequencing data specific to the TYC populations has hindered the understanding of the fundamental patterns of migration and divergence between humans in east Asia and southeast Asia. Here, we provide 248 individual whole genomes from the 16 TYC and 3 outgroup populations to elucidate historical relationships. We find that the Tibetan plateau forms an important barrier to gene flow, with a more Tibetan-like ancestry in northern populations and a southern east Asian-related ancestry in south populations. An isolated population, Achang, shows a prolonged isolation and genetic drift compared to other TYC populations. We also note that previous claims regarding the history and structure of TYC populations inferred by linguistics are incompatible with the genetic evidence.

Original language	English
Article number	110720
Journal	Cell Reports
Volume	39
Issue number	4
Online published	26 Apr 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110720
Publication status	Published - 26 Apr 2022

Research Keywords

CP: Molecular biology
geographic patterns
human migration
population genetics
Tibetan-Yi corridor

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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103283183Final Published version, 15.7 MBLicence: CC BY

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abstract = "The Tibetan-Yi Corridor (TYC) region between Tibet and the rest of east Asia has served as a crossroads for human migrations for thousands of years. The lack of whole-genome sequencing data specific to the TYC populations has hindered the understanding of the fundamental patterns of migration and divergence between humans in east Asia and southeast Asia. Here, we provide 248 individual whole genomes from the 16 TYC and 3 outgroup populations to elucidate historical relationships. We find that the Tibetan plateau forms an important barrier to gene flow, with a more Tibetan-like ancestry in northern populations and a southern east Asian-related ancestry in south populations. An isolated population, Achang, shows a prolonged isolation and genetic drift compared to other TYC populations. We also note that previous claims regarding the history and structure of TYC populations inferred by linguistics are incompatible with the genetic evidence.",

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author = "Zhe Zhang and Yanlin Zhang and Yinan Wang and Zicheng Zhao and Melinda Yang and Lin Zhang and Bin Zhou and Bingying Xu and Hongbo Zhang and Teng Chen and Wenkui Dai and Yong Zhou and Shuo Shi and Rasmus Nielsen and Li, {Shuai Cheng} and Shengbin Li",

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T1 - The Tibetan-Yi region is both a corridor and a barrier for human gene flow

AU - Zhang, Zhe

AU - Zhang, Yanlin

AU - Wang, Yinan

AU - Zhao, Zicheng

AU - Yang, Melinda

AU - Zhang, Lin

AU - Zhou, Bin

AU - Xu, Bingying

AU - Zhang, Hongbo

AU - Chen, Teng

AU - Dai, Wenkui

AU - Zhou, Yong

AU - Shi, Shuo

AU - Nielsen, Rasmus

AU - Li, Shuai Cheng

AU - Li, Shengbin

PY - 2022/4/26

Y1 - 2022/4/26

N2 - The Tibetan-Yi Corridor (TYC) region between Tibet and the rest of east Asia has served as a crossroads for human migrations for thousands of years. The lack of whole-genome sequencing data specific to the TYC populations has hindered the understanding of the fundamental patterns of migration and divergence between humans in east Asia and southeast Asia. Here, we provide 248 individual whole genomes from the 16 TYC and 3 outgroup populations to elucidate historical relationships. We find that the Tibetan plateau forms an important barrier to gene flow, with a more Tibetan-like ancestry in northern populations and a southern east Asian-related ancestry in south populations. An isolated population, Achang, shows a prolonged isolation and genetic drift compared to other TYC populations. We also note that previous claims regarding the history and structure of TYC populations inferred by linguistics are incompatible with the genetic evidence.

AB - The Tibetan-Yi Corridor (TYC) region between Tibet and the rest of east Asia has served as a crossroads for human migrations for thousands of years. The lack of whole-genome sequencing data specific to the TYC populations has hindered the understanding of the fundamental patterns of migration and divergence between humans in east Asia and southeast Asia. Here, we provide 248 individual whole genomes from the 16 TYC and 3 outgroup populations to elucidate historical relationships. We find that the Tibetan plateau forms an important barrier to gene flow, with a more Tibetan-like ancestry in northern populations and a southern east Asian-related ancestry in south populations. An isolated population, Achang, shows a prolonged isolation and genetic drift compared to other TYC populations. We also note that previous claims regarding the history and structure of TYC populations inferred by linguistics are incompatible with the genetic evidence.

KW - CP: Molecular biology

KW - geographic patterns

KW - human migration

KW - population genetics

KW - Tibetan-Yi corridor

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DO - 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110720

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SN - 2639-1856

VL - 39

JO - Cell Reports

JF - Cell Reports

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ER -

The Tibetan-Yi region is both a corridor and a barrier for human gene flow

Abstract

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

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