Article in Nature Ecology & Evolution Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution journal (IF = 2.55) published an article by researchers of the FSBI RCMG Human Population Genetics Laboratory (headed by Professor Balanovska E.V.)

Choongwon Jeong, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Lukianova, Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy, Pavel Flegontov, Valery Zaporozhchenko, Alexander Immel, Chuan-Chao Wang, Olzhas Ixan, Elmira Khussainova, Bakhytzhan Bekmanov, Victor Zaibert, Maria Lavryashina, Elvira Pocheshkhova, Yuldash Yusupov, Anastasiya Agdzhoyan, Koshel Sergey, Andrei Bukin, Pagbajabyn Nymadawa, Michail Churnosov, Roza Skhalyakho, Denis Daragan, Yuri Bogunov, Anna Bogunova, Alexandr Shtrunov, Nadezda Dubova, Maxat Zhabagin, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Vladimir Churakov, Nikolay Pislegin, Larissa Damba, Ludmila Saroyants, Khadizhat Dibirova, Lubov Artamentova, Olga Utevska, Eldar Idrisov, Evgeniya Kamenshchikova, Irina Evseeva, Mait Metspalu, Martine Robbeets, Leyla Djansugurova, Elena Balanovska, Stephan Schiffels, Wolfgang Haak, David Reich & Johannes Krause. The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia

The genetic history of admixture across Northern Eurasia

The indigenous populations of the Northern Eurasia — a vast region spanning the Central Asian steppes, taiga, and tundra — demonstrate high diversity in genes, culture, and languages. The article presents new genomic data on 763 individuals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, as well as data on two ancient genomes of the Eneolithic Botai culture in Kazakhstan (5400 years ago). Modern populations in Northern Eurasia were discovered to be structured into three clines stretching from west to east, in mirroring the populations’ geography, and differing in the composition of the western and eastern genetic ancestral components. The Botai and more recent ancient genomes from Siberia show a decrease in contributions from so-called ‘ancient North Eurasian’ ancestry over time, which is detectable only in the most northern ‘forest-tundra’ cline. The intermediate ‘steppe-forest’ cline descends from the Late Bronze Age steppe ancestries, while the ‘southern steppe’ cline further to the south shows a strong West/South Asian influence. Ancient genomes indicate the spread to the north of the southern steppe cline in Central Asia during the first millennium BC. Finally, the genetic structure of the Caucasian populations exhibits the role of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range as a genetic barrier and suggests a post-neolithic gene flow to the populations of the North Caucasus from the steppes.

Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0878-2