Identification of a novel Native American Y chromosome founding lineage in Northwest South America

LUTZ ROEWER ET AL; NOTHNAGEL M; GUSMÃO L; GOMES V; GONZÁLEZ M; CORACH D; SALA E; ALECHINE E

Innsbruck

Congreso; DNA in Forensics 2012. "DNA in Forensics: Exploring the Phylogenies"; 2012

Y User and EMPOP

For the first time, we could identify a novel Native American founding lineage C-M217 (C3*) within a restricted area of North-west South America. This finding is intriguing in view of the high prevalence of the same haplogroup in Central, East and North East Asia, and its concurrent absence from North America. Possible scenarios include (i) later migratory waves that quickly passed the existing populations in North America, and (ii) long-distance trade or contact with East Asia. Fifty years after Estrada, Meggers and Evans (1962) suggested trans-Pacific connections between the middle Jōmon culture of Kyushu (Japan) and the littoral Valdivia culture in Ecuador (6400-5300 YBP), based upon cultural similarity, it is indeed tempting to speculate that C-M217 (C3*) was introduced into South America from Eastern Asia by sea, either along the American West coast or across the Pacific (with some help by major currents). The striking differences observed between the Y-STR haplotypes of Ecuadorian and Asian C-M217 (C3*) carriers would be explicable in terms of a long divergence time after the arrival (although a more recent introduction cannot be excluded).