Breakthrough Progress Has Been Made in the Study of Ancient DNA of Ancient People in Shandong Province
Recently, a groundbreaking study on ancient DNA from populations in Shandong was published online in Science Bulletin. This research breakthrough was jointly led by the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the ancient DNA laboratory at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under the research team of Dr. Fu Qiaomei, and the School of Cultural Heritage at Shandong University, in collaboration with multiple other scientific institutions.
The paper, titled "Maternal genetic structure in ancient Shandong between 9500 and 1800 years ago", reveals maternal lineage insights into ancient populations in the region over this timespan. Sun Bo, professor of relics and museology of Shandong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, served as the first co-author of the paper, while fellow institute researchers Li Zhenguang (professor of relics and museology), Zhu Chao (museologist), Wang Zi Meng (museologist) and Wei Chengmin (professor of relics and museology) were listed as co-authors.
The study utilized advanced ancient DNA capture techniques to obtain 86 complete mitochondrial genome sequences from 12 ancient archaeological sites. These ancient samples, geographically distributed across both inland and coastal regions of Shandong, span a time range of nearly 7,700 years. The main findings are as follows:
I. Based on the Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA), which detected differences among populations from different time periods, the ancient populations in Shandong can be divided into an early group dating from approximately 9,500 to 4,600 years ago and a late group dating from around 4,600 to 1,800 years ago.
II. In samples dating earlier than 4,600 years ago, haplogroups D4, D5, B4c1, and B5b2, which are commonly found in modern southern and northern East Asian populations, were identified. This indicates that early Shandong populations already possessed maternal genetic characteristics of both southern and northern East Asian groups. Compared to the early Shandong populations, the late Shandong populations exhibited an increase in mitochondrial haplogroups, suggesting that during the Longshan culture period and thereafter, ancient populations in Shandong were influenced by groups from other regions. These influences enriched the diversity of maternal genetic structures in the Shandong population.
III. After approximately 3,100 years ago, genetic interactions likely occurred between coastal and inland populations in Shandong. For instance, the sharing of mitochondrial haplogroups M8 and A suggests that the differences in maternal genetic structures between coastal and inland populations in Shandong significantly decreased after this period.
IV. At the Bianbiandong site, dating back approximately 9,500 years, the oldest individual belonging to the B5b2 lineage was discovered. A phylogenetic tree of the B5b2 lineage was constructed, and the divergence times of various haplotypes within this lineage were calculated. The results indicate that the Bianbiandong individual from around 9,500 years ago and the Beiqian site individuals from approximately 5,500–5,300 years ago may be related to the ancestors of certain East Asian and North Asian populations within this lineage. This suggests that the B5b2 lineage population likely originated in the Shandong region and subsequently spread to other areas.
This study represents the first long-term, systematic investigation of mitochondrial genomes in the Shandong region, filling gaps in mitochondrial genomic data for populations in Shandong from 9,500 to 1,800 years ago. Shandong has become the first region in China to establish a comprehensive maternal genetic evolution framework. In future research, we will continue to collaborate, integrating studies on Y chromosomes and nuclear genomes of Shandong populations to gain deeper insights into the migration and evolutionary history of the people in this region.
Fig. Maternal genetic history of Shandong population from 9500 to 1800 years ago.
（The picture comes from Paper “Maternal genetic structure in ancient Shandong between 9500 and 1800 years ago”.）
Original link：https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095927321000657
DOI information：doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2021.01.029
The first authors of this study are Liu Junsen, a master's student at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zeng Wen, an assistant researcher at Shandong University; Sun Bo, a researcher at the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology; and Mao Xiaowei, an associate researcher at Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This research received funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the "Roots of Chinese Civilization Research" project at Zhengzhou University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Tencent Xplorer Prize, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Social Science Fund of China, and the Youth Interdisciplinary Science Innovation Group Construction Project at Shandong University.
Science Bulletin is a comprehensive academic journal of natural science co-sponsored by China Academy of Sciences and National Natural Science Foundation of China, and published by China Science magazine. It is one of the JCR Quartile 1, CAS Comprehensive Category Q1 SCI Journals, which is committed to quickly reporting the latest research trends, news and progress of basic theory and applied research in various disciplines of natural science, and commenting on the research trends and development trends of disciplines.
