Mitochondrial Genome Diversity in the North American Subarctic

史前气候变化对人类历史产生了重大影响，这种影响反映在种群间遗传多样性的模式上。这项研究项目研究了北美亚北极地区人口的遗传模式，以了解气候变化与人口历史之间的关系。气候变化被认为是北美众多人类学现象的一个主要因素：冰川避难所在促进太平洋沿岸迁徙路线方面的作用，亚北极地区语言多样性的模式，甚至在最初的人类居住之后东北亚和美洲之间遗传交流的程度和模式。来自北美洲亚北区和邻近群体的220个完整的线粒体基因组将被生成和分析。将使用遗传分析来检查种群中线粒体DNA之间的关系以及这些DNA出现的时间。这一分析的结果将与相关的考古和语言信息进行比较，以更好地了解北美和东北亚地区人口的迁徙路线、语言多样性模式和遗传关系。具体地说，如果太平洋海岸被用作进入美洲的移民路线，预计沿海人口的遗传多样性将比内陆人口更多，线粒体DNA的差异将更小。如果与语言相关的人口迁徙到以前被冰川覆盖的新地区，遗传多样性和语言多样性之间的相关性是可以预期的。如果东北亚和北美的史前人口之间存在着大量的联系，那么来自这两个大陆的个体的线粒体DNA之间将会有密切的联系。这个项目将有助于更广泛的人类学问题，如大陆殖民的性质，语言的进化，以及大陆之间古代人类联系的性质。这项研究将为理解未来对美洲史前人口古代DNA的研究奠定基础。此外，该项目还将建立一个培训代表性不足的土著研究人员的分子人类学技术和分析中心。最后，这项多学科研究将巩固伊利诺伊大学香槟分校的国际人类学研究人员与魁北克加蒂诺的加拿大文明博物馆之间的现有合作，并与西安大略大学建立伙伴关系。

Prehistoric changes in climate have made a significant impact on the history of humans and this impact is reflected in patterns of genetic diversity among populations. This research project studies the genetic patterns of populations in the Subarctic region of North America to understand the relationship between climate change and population history. Climate change has been implicated as a major factor in numerous anthropological phenomena in North America: the role of glacial refugia in facilitating migration routes along the Pacific Coast, the patterns of linguistic diversity in the Subarctic region, and even the extent and mode of genetic exchange between Northeast Asia and the Americas following the initial peopling. Two hundred and twenty complete mitochondrial genomes from Subarctic and neighboring groups in North America will be generated and analyzed. Genetic analyses that examine the relationships among mitochondrial DNAs from populations and the timing of the emergence of these DNAs will be employed. The results of this analysis will be compared to relevant archaeological and linguistic information to gain a better understanding of migration routes, patterns of linguistic diversity, and genetic relationships among populations in North America and Northeast Asia. Specifically, if the Pacific Coast was used as a migration route into the Americas, more genetic diversity and less difference of mitochondrial DNAs in populations along the coast compared to populations found inland is expected. If linguistically related populations migrated to new regions that were previously covered by glaciers, a correlation between genetic and linguistic diversity is expected. If a lot of contact existed between prehistoric populations in Northeast Asia and North America, a close relationship among mitochondrial DNAs from individuals in these two continents is expected.This project will contribute to broader anthropological issues such as the nature of continental colonization, the evolution of language, and the nature of ancient human connections between continents. This research will be the basis for understanding future studies of ancient DNA of prehistoric populations in the Americas. In addition, this project will establish a center for training underrepresented indigenous researchers in molecular anthropology techniques and analyses. Finally, this multi-disciplinary study will cement an existing collaboration between international researchers in anthropology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, with partnership outreach to the University of Western Ontario.