Ancient Andean Genes Reveal DNA Continuity Amid Cultural Clashes

Led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, Santa Cruz, the team analyzed genome-wide data from 89 individuals who lived between 500 and 9,000 years ago. Of these, 64 genomes, ranging from 500 to 4,500 years old, were newly sequenced - more than doubling the number of ancient individuals with genome-wide data from South America.

The analysis included representatives of iconic Andean civilizations from whom no genome-wide data had been reported before, including the Moche, Nasca, Wari, Tiwanaku and Inca.

The central Andes, surrounding present-day Peru, is one of the few places in the world where farming was invented rather than being adopted from elsewhere and where the earliest presence of complex civilizations in South America has been documented so far. While the region has been a major focus of archaeological research, there had been no systematic characterization with genome-wide ancient DNA until now, the authors said.

Geneticists, including several of the current team members, previously studied the deep genetic history of South America as a whole, including analysis of several individuals from the Andean highlands from many thousands of years ago. There have also been analyses of present-day residents of the Andes and a limited number of mitochondrial or Y-chromosome DNA analyses from individual ancient Andean sites.

The analyses revealed that by 9,000 years ago, groups living in the Andean highlands became genetically distinct from those that eventually came to live along the Pacific coast. The effects of this early differentiation are still seen today.

The genetic fingerprints distinguishing people living in the highlands from those in nearby regions are "remarkably ancient,"

By 5,800 years ago, the population of the north also developed distinct genetic signatures from populations that became prevalent in the south, the team found. Again, these differences can be observed today.

Thanks BenLurkin. I always prefer to have continuity in my DNA. :^) Same goes for my ANA, BNA, and CNA.

Here are the other GGG topics introduced since the previous Digest ping:

Can somebody tell me what the article means in English? I am missing the point. What is the significance of the findings supposed to mean?

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