Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding Cultural Influences On Population Structure and History through Genetic Analyses of Assyrians

了解塑造人类种群的文化和行为因素对于研究我们物种的复杂历史和现代分布非常重要。语言、宗教、地缘政治边界和社会文化压力是四个这样的因素，但往往很难在一个单一的人口中探讨它们对人口结构的影响。这项研究探讨了当今亚述人，近东民族宗教少数群体的人口遗传学。由于他们自萨珊王朝时代以来的相对孤立，亚述人是理解语言，宗教和社会政治边界对人口的影响，以及重建美索不达米亚人口历史的绝佳人口，这是一个对史前和历史人类迁移，农业传播和现代文明到来的研究具有特殊重要性的地区。该项目还将引起人们对亚述人作为美国增长最快的代表性不足的社区之一的关注，向亚述社区成员介绍人类学遗传学和人类学，并支持一名也是该社区成员的研究生的专业发展。在这个为期12个月的项目中，研究人员将确定美国至少140个无关的亚述人的线粒体和Y染色体单倍型，这些人主要来自芝加哥地区，那里是近东以外最大的亚述人口（n= 80，000）的家园。各种遗传分析方法将用于测量来自不同国家（地缘政治边界）的亚述人之间以及亚述人与其他近东人口（语言，宗教和社会边界）之间的单倍型分布差异。该项目有可能大大推进人类群体遗传学的可推广知识，并填补个别文化和世界历史上重要地区的人口历史空白。研究结果将通过专业报告和期刊以及亚述人社区内外的公共外联活动进行传播。

Understanding the cultural and behavioral factors that shape human populations is important for studying the complex history and modern day distribution of our species. Language, religion, geopolitical boundaries, and sociocultural pressures are four such factors, but it is often difficult to explore their effects on population structure within a single population. This study explores the population genetics of present-day Assyrians, a Near Eastern ethnoreligious minority. Due to their relative isolation since the Sassanid Era, Assyrians are an excellent population for understanding the effects of linguistic, religious, and sociopolitical boundaries on populations, and for reconstructing the population history of Mesopotamia, an area of exceptional importance for the study of prehistoric and historic human migrations, the spread of agriculture, and the advent of modern civilization. The project will also bring attention to Assyrians as one of the fastest-growing underrepresented communities in the United States, introduce members of the Assyrian community to anthropological genetics and anthropology, and support the professional development of a graduate student who is also a member of this community. During this 12-month project, the investigators will determine mitochondrial and Y-chromosome haplotypes for at least 140 unrelated Assyrian individuals in the United States, mainly from Chicago area, home of the largest Assyrian population (n=80,000) outside of the Near East. Various genetic analytic methods will be used to measure differences in haplotype distributions among Assyrians originating from different countries (geopolitical boundaries), and between Assyrians and other Near Eastern populations (language, religious, and social boundaries). The project has the potential to significantly advance generalizable knowledge in human population genetics, in addition to filling in gaps in the population history of an individual culture and a historically important region of the world. Results will be disseminated through professional presentations and journals, but also through public outreach within and beyond the Assyrian community.