2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research and Development for Reconstructing Ancient Human Society Using DNA Technology
| Project/Area Number |
09359002
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A).
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 展開研究 |
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| Research Field |
広領域
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| Research Institution | University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
UEDA Shintaroh University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Science Associate Professor, 大学院・理学系研究科, 助教授 (20143357)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SAITOU Naruya National Institute of Genetics Associate Professor, 助教授 (30192587)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1997 – 2000
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| Keywords | Anicient Society / Population Structure / Genetic Diversity / Ancient DNA / Molecular Anthropology / PCR / Molecular Archaeology |
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| Research Abstract |
We here developed a novel method for reconstructing human society/population in ancient times by using DNA technology, in combination with new development of computer programs ; SSJ program for multiple alignment of large number of sequence data, and dna-pop-dist program for estimating nucleotide diversity (the mean of pairwise nucleotide differences per site) and evolutionary distances (net values of nucleotide substitutions) between populations. In addition, we constructed the phylogenetic network of haplotypes and the population tree using the network construction and the neighbor-joining methods, respectively. Using these programs, we investigated temporal changes in population genetic structure, comparing the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of three populations that lived in the same location, Linzi of China, in different periods : 2500 years ago (the Spring-Autumn era), 2000 years ago (the Han era), and the present day. The results obtained indicate that the genetic background of the three populationsis distinct from each other. Inconsistent with the geographical distribution, the 2500-year-old Linzi population showed greater genetic similarity to present-day European populations than to present-day east Asian populations. The 2000 year-old Linzi population had features that were intermediate between the present-day European/2500-year-old Linzi populations and the present-day east Asian populations. These relationships suggest the occurrence of drastic spatiotemporal changes in genetic structure of Chinese people during the past 2500 years. These results obtained here using ancient DNAs have never been deduced from conventional genetic studies using the present-day samples, and provide a novel insight not only into natural sciences including genetics and physical anthropology but also into social sciences including archaeology and linguistics.
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