Inferring the population expansions in peopling of Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Extensive studies in different fields have been performed to reconstruct the prehistory of populations in the Japanese archipelago. Estimates the ancestral population dynamics based on Japanese molecular sequences can extend our understanding about the colonization of Japan and the ethnogenesis of modern Japanese.

Methodology/principal findings

We applied Bayesian skyline plot (BSP) with a dataset based on 952 Japanese mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes to depict the female effective population size (N(ef)) through time for the total Japanese and each of the major mtDNA haplogroups in Japanese. Our results revealed a rapid N(ef) growth since ∼5 thousand years ago had left ∼72% Japanese mtDNA lineages with a salient signature. The BSP for the major mtDNA haplogroups

SUBMITTER: Peng MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3126835 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature