Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil

Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo, Lao, Oscar, Schroeder, Hannes, Rasmussen, Morten, Raghavan, Maanasa, Moltke, Ida, Campos, Paula F., Sagredo, Francisca Santana, Rasmussen, Simon, Gonçalves, Vanessa F., Albrechtsen, Anders, Allentoft, Morten E., Johnson, Philip L. F., Li, Mingkun, Reis, Silvia, Bernardo, Danilo V., DeGiorgio, Michael, Duggan, Ana T., Bastos, Murilo, Wang, Yong, Stenderup, Jesper, Moreno-Mayar, J. Victor, Brunak, Søren, Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas, Hodges, Emily, Hannon, Gregory J., Orlando, Ludovic, Price, T. Douglas, Jensen, Jeffrey D., Nielsen, Rasmus, Heinemeier, Jan, Olsen, Jesper, Rodrigues-Carvalho, Claudia, Lahr, Marta Mirazón, Neves, Walter A., Kayser, Manfred, Higham, Thomas, Stoneking, Mark, Pena, Sergio D. J., Willerslev, Eske (November 2014) Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil. Current Biology, 24 (21). R1035-R1037. ISSN 0960-9822

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25455029
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.078

Abstract

Summary Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present 14C dates, and morphological, isotopic and genomic sequence data from two human skulls from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, part of one of the indigenous groups known as ‘Botocudos’. We find that their genomic ancestry is Polynesian, with no detectable Native American component. Radiocarbon analysis of the skulls shows that the individuals had died prior to the beginning of the 19th century. Our findings could either represent genomic evidence of Polynesians reaching South America during their Pacific expansion, or European-mediated transport.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > genomes
Investigative techniques and equipment > assays > whole genome sequencing
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Hannon lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 3 November 2014
Date Deposited: 26 Nov 2014 19:40
Last Modified: 07 Apr 2015 14:23
PMCID: PMC4370112
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/30935

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