TY - JOUR

T1 - Mitochondrial DNA diversity in a Transbaikalian Xiongnu population

AU - Pilipenko, Aleksandr S.

AU - Cherdantsev, Stepan V.

AU - Trapezov, Rostislav O.

AU - Zhuravlev, Anton A.

AU - Babenko, Vladimir N.

AU - Pozdnyakov, Dmitri V.

AU - Konovalov, Prokopiy B.

AU - Polosmak, Natalia V.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank staff of the Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist, and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Science (Ulan-Ude, Russia) for their help with bone sample collection and Marina S. Nesterova for technical assistance. The study was financed by a Russian Science Foundation (RSCF) grant (project No. 14-18-03124). The study was financed by a Russian Science Foundation (RSCF) grant (project no. 14-18-03124). Publisher Copyright: © 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

PY - 2018/10/1

Y1 - 2018/10/1

N2 - Xiongnu was a confederation of nomadic pastoral tribes (~200 bc–100 ad) that founded the first nomadic empire in Central Asia. According to archeological and historical data, the tribes played a key role in ethnic and cultural processes in Central Asia and adjacent regions of Eurasia. Genetic studies of the Xiongnu published to date have focused on remains from burial grounds in present-day Mongolia, in the southern part of the ancient Xiongnu area. However, paleoanthropological materials from numerous Xiongnu cemeteries and settlements in Transbaikalia (the southern region of Eastern Siberia, Russia) in the northern part of the Xiongnu Empire have not been examined genetically. Here, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA variation in a Transbaikalian Xiongnu population based on ancient DNA obtained from skeletal remains (n = 18) at four burial grounds to complement available Xiongnu genetic diversity data. We detected 16 mitochondrial DNA haplotypes belonging to seven East Eurasian haplogroups (A, B5, C, D4, G2a, N9a, and Y) in the Transbaikalian Xiongnu series. We observed substantial similarity between Transbaikalian and Mongolian Xiongnu series with respect to main haplogroup composition and frequencies. We observed several mitochondrial DNA clusters (N9a, Y, B5, and A16) and 11 of 16 haplotypes that were previously undetected in the Xiongnu gene pool. We also observed high similarity between the Xiongnu and contemporary indigenous populations of eastern Central Asia, particularly Mongolian-speaking groups. These findings extend our knowledge of Xiongnu genetic diversity.

AB - Xiongnu was a confederation of nomadic pastoral tribes (~200 bc–100 ad) that founded the first nomadic empire in Central Asia. According to archeological and historical data, the tribes played a key role in ethnic and cultural processes in Central Asia and adjacent regions of Eurasia. Genetic studies of the Xiongnu published to date have focused on remains from burial grounds in present-day Mongolia, in the southern part of the ancient Xiongnu area. However, paleoanthropological materials from numerous Xiongnu cemeteries and settlements in Transbaikalia (the southern region of Eastern Siberia, Russia) in the northern part of the Xiongnu Empire have not been examined genetically. Here, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA variation in a Transbaikalian Xiongnu population based on ancient DNA obtained from skeletal remains (n = 18) at four burial grounds to complement available Xiongnu genetic diversity data. We detected 16 mitochondrial DNA haplotypes belonging to seven East Eurasian haplogroups (A, B5, C, D4, G2a, N9a, and Y) in the Transbaikalian Xiongnu series. We observed substantial similarity between Transbaikalian and Mongolian Xiongnu series with respect to main haplogroup composition and frequencies. We observed several mitochondrial DNA clusters (N9a, Y, B5, and A16) and 11 of 16 haplotypes that were previously undetected in the Xiongnu gene pool. We also observed high similarity between the Xiongnu and contemporary indigenous populations of eastern Central Asia, particularly Mongolian-speaking groups. These findings extend our knowledge of Xiongnu genetic diversity.

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Central Asia

KW - Iron age

KW - Mitochondrial DNA

KW - Nomads

KW - Xiongnu

KW - ANCIENT DNA

KW - ETHNIC POPULATIONS

KW - ADMIXTURE

KW - SILK ROAD

KW - MTDNA

KW - ASIAN POPULATIONS

KW - HAN CHINESE

KW - EAST

KW - MONGOLIA

KW - BRONZE-AGE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040226396&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12520-017-0481-x

DO - 10.1007/s12520-017-0481-x

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85040226396

VL - 10

SP - 1557

EP - 1570

JO - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

JF - Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

SN - 1866-9557

IS - 7

ER -