Molecular Evolution in the Yanomama

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This is an in-depth study of molecular genetic variation in a large population of Native South Americans (the Yanomama of Venezuela and Brazil). While numerous studies have been conducted using classical blood group and protein markers in Native Americans, including the Yanomama, very few studies have been done using modern high-resolution molecular genetic markers (like the maternally inherited mitochondrialDNA (mtDNA), the paternally inherited Y chromosome DNA, and biparentally inherited short tandem repeat polymorphisms (STRs). Several dozen studies of varying sizes have analyzed mitochondrial DNA or Y chromosome variation in Native Americans, all of which involve studying less the 100, and often less than 20 individuals per population. This will be the first high resolution, multi-locus study of a single Native American population. The researchers have samples from more than 3000 Yanomama from Venezuela and Brazil, from 52 villages. This represents actual DNA samples of 1/4 to 1/5 of all the living Yanomama, and 1/3 of all the known Yanomama villages. Through extensive pedigree analysis, they also will know the mtDNA and Y chromosome types for another 3-5,000 relatives of the individuals in the sample, bringing the total sample up to 6-8,000 individuals. They will analyze patterns of shared and exclusive variation among the 52 villages, as well as between the Yanomama and surrounding native populations. They are particularly interested in male and female-specific estimates of gene flow and migration (using the maternal mtDNA markers, the paternal Y markers, and the biparental STR markers). If evolution is population genetics "writ large", then this study should provide a detailed study of microevolutionary structure in a large, sub-divided population, and this data may have important implications for larger models of human evolution and for models of the peopling of the New World.