Comparative genomics of human populations in the Ryukyu islands and northern Kyushu; and its relevance for the origin of modern Japanese and their adaptation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24370099
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Physical anthropology
• Research Institution: Kitasato University
• Principal Investigator: OOTA Hiroki 北里大学, 医学部, 准教授 (40401228)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KIMURA Ryosuke 琉球大学, 医学系研究科, 准教授 (00453712) ; MANO Shuhei 統計数理研究所, 数理・推論研究系, 准教授 (20372948)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ヒト / 日本列島 / ゲノム / 混血 / 琉球 / 北部九州 / 縄文 / 弥生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To investing the biological origin of Japanese, we conducted well-planned samplings and genome analyses. The data showed the sub-population structure of Japanese in fine resolution.
[Details]1.Genome-wide SNP analysis for the Ryukyu islanders showed, ①the cluster of the islanders differ from that of main-island Japanese. ②current habitants in the islands seemed to have no relationship with the 17,000 year-old skeletal remain that was recently found in the Ishigaki island (Sato et al. 2014). 2.Using the genome-wide SNP data of Ainu, Han Chinese, and main-island Japanese, three demographic models, (1) transformation, (2) replacement, (3) hybridization, were compared by Kernel approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), and the hybridization model is predicted to be between 29 and 63 times more likely than the replacement and transformation models, respectively (Nakagome et al. in press).

Free Research Field

ゲノム人類学