High-throughput sequencing of complete human mtDNA genomes from the Caucasus and West Asia: high diversity and demographic inferences.

ABSTRACT: To investigate the demographic history of human populations from the Caucasus and surrounding regions, we used high-throughput sequencing to generate 147 complete mtDNA genome sequences from random samples of individuals from three groups from the Caucasus (Armenians, Azeri and Georgians), and one group each from Iran and Turkey. Overall diversity is very high, with 144 different sequences that fall into 97 different haplogroups found among the 147 individuals. Bayesian skyline plots (BSPs) of population size change through time show a population expansion around 40-50 kya, followed by a constant population size, and then another expansion around 15-18 kya for the groups from the Caucasus and Iran. The BSP for Turkey differs the most from the others, with an increase from 35 to 50 kya foll

SUBMITTER: Schonberg A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3179362 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature