Population structure of modern-day Italians reveals patterns of ancient and archaic ancestries in Southern Europe.

ABSTRACT: European populations display low genetic differentiation as the result of long-term blending of their ancient founding ancestries. However, it is unclear how the combination of ancient ancestries related to early foragers, Neolithic farmers, and Bronze Age nomadic pastoralists can explain the distribution of genetic variation across Europe. Populations in natural crossroads like the Italian peninsula are expected to recapitulate the continental diversity, but have been systematically understudied. Here, we characterize the ancestry profiles of Italian populations using a genome-wide dataset representative of modern and ancient samples from across Italy, Europe, and the rest of the world. Italian genomes capture several ancient signatures, including a non-steppe contribution derived ultimat

SUBMITTER: Raveane A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6726452 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature