TY - JOUR
T1 - Polynesian origins
T2 - Insights from the Y chromosome
AU - Su, Bing
AU - Jin, Li
AU - Underbill, Peter
AU - Martinson, Jeremy
AU - Saha, Nilmani
AU - McGarvey, Stephen T.
AU - Shriver, Mark D.
AU - Chu, Jiayou
AU - Oefner, Peter
AU - Chakraborty, Ranajit
AU - Deka, Ranjan
PY - 2000/7/18
Y1 - 2000/7/18
N2 - The question surrounding the colonization of Polynesia has remained controversial. Two hypotheses, one postulating Taiwan as the putative homeland and the other asserting a Melanesian origin of the Polynesian people, have received considerable attention. In this work, we present haplotype data based on the distribution of 19 biallelic polymorphisms on the Y chromosome in a sample of 551 male individuals from 36 populations living in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Surprisingly, nearly none of the Taiwanese Y haplotypes were found in Micronesia and Polynesia. Likewise, a Melanesian-specific haplotype was not found among the Polynesians. However, all of the Polynesian, Micronesian, and Taiwanese haplotypes are present in the extant Southeast Asian populations. Evidently, the Y-chromosome data do not lend support to either of the prevailing hypotheses. Rather, we postulate that Southeast Asia provided a genetic source for two independent migrations, one toward Taiwan and the other toward Polynesia through island Southeast Asia.
AB - The question surrounding the colonization of Polynesia has remained controversial. Two hypotheses, one postulating Taiwan as the putative homeland and the other asserting a Melanesian origin of the Polynesian people, have received considerable attention. In this work, we present haplotype data based on the distribution of 19 biallelic polymorphisms on the Y chromosome in a sample of 551 male individuals from 36 populations living in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Surprisingly, nearly none of the Taiwanese Y haplotypes were found in Micronesia and Polynesia. Likewise, a Melanesian-specific haplotype was not found among the Polynesians. However, all of the Polynesian, Micronesian, and Taiwanese haplotypes are present in the extant Southeast Asian populations. Evidently, the Y-chromosome data do not lend support to either of the prevailing hypotheses. Rather, we postulate that Southeast Asia provided a genetic source for two independent migrations, one toward Taiwan and the other toward Polynesia through island Southeast Asia.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=12944305959&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.97.15.8225
DO - 10.1073/pnas.97.15.8225
M3 - Article
C2 - 10899994
AN - SCOPUS:12944305959
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 97
SP - 8225
EP - 8228
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 15
ER -