It is commonly thought that human genetic diversity in non-African populations was shaped primarily by an out-of-Africa dispersal 50–100 thousand yr ago (kya). Here, we present a study of 456 geographically diverse high-coverage Y chromosome sequences, including 299 newly reported samples. Applying ancient DNA calibration, we date the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) in Africa at 254 (95% CI 192–307) kya and detect a cluster of major non-African founder haplogroups in a narrow time interval at 47–52 kya, consistent with a rapid initial colonization model of Eurasia and Oceania after the out-of-Africa bottleneck. In contrast to demographic reconstructions based on mtDNA, we infer a second strong bottleneck in Y-chromosome lineages dating to the last 10 ky. We hypothesize that this bottleneck is caused by cultural changes affecting variance of reproductive success among males.

Whole-genome sequencing of individuals from 125 populations provides insight into patterns of genetic diversity, natural selection and human demographic history during the peopling of Eurasia and finds evidence for genetic vestiges of an early expansion of modern humans out of Africa in Papuans. Three international collaborations reporting in this issue of Nature describe 787 high-quality genomes from individuals from geographically diverse populations. David Reich and colleagues analysed whole-genome sequences of 300 individuals from 142 populations. Their findings include an accelerated estimated rate of accumulation of mutations in non-Africans compared to Africans since divergence, and that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans but from the same source as that of other non-Africans. Eske Willerlsev and colleagues obtained whole-genome data for 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 Papuans from the New Guinea Highlands. They estimate that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from Eurasian populations 51,000–72,000 years ago, following a single out-of-Africa dispersal. Luca Pagani et al. report on a dataset of 483 high-coverage human genomes from 148 populations worldwide, including 379 new genomes from 125 populations. Their analyses support the model by which all non-African populations derive most of their genetic ancestry from a single recent migration out of Africa, although a Papuan contribution suggests a trace of an earlier human expansion. High-coverage whole-genome sequence studies have so far focused on a limited number1 of geographically restricted populations2,3,4,5, or been targeted at specific diseases, such as cancer6. Nevertheless, the availability of high-resolution genomic data has led to the development of new methodologies for inferring population history7,8,9 and refuelled the debate on the mutation rate in humans10. Here we present the Estonian Biocentre Human Genome Diversity Panel (EGDP), a dataset of 483 high-coverage human genomes from 148 populations worldwide, including 379 new genomes from 125 populations, which we group into diversity and selection sets. We analyse this dataset to refine estimates of continent-wide patterns of heterozygosity, long- and short-distance gene flow, archaic admixture, and changes in effective population size through time as well as for signals of positive or balancing selection. We find a genetic signature in present-day Papuans that suggests that at least 2% of their genome originates from an early and largely extinct expansion of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) out of Africa. Together with evidence from the western Asian fossil record11, and admixture between AMHs and Neanderthals predating the main Eurasian expansion12, our results contribute to the mounting evidence for the presence of AMHs out of Africa earlier than 75,000 years ago.

The Turkic peoples represent a diverse collection of ethnic groups defined by the Turkic languages. These groups have dispersed across a vast area, including Siberia, Northwest China, Central Asia, East Europe, the Caucasus, Anatolia, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. The origin and early dispersal history of the Turkic peoples is disputed, with candidates for their ancient homeland ranging from the Transcaspian steppe to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. Previous genetic studies have not identified a clear-cut unifying genetic signal for the Turkic peoples, which lends support for language replacement rather than demic diffusion as the model for the Turkic language’s expansion. We addressed the genetic origin of 373 individuals from 22 Turkic-speaking populations, representing their current geographic range, by analyzing genome-wide high-density genotype data. In agreement with the elite dominance model of language expansion most of the Turkic peoples studied genetically resemble their geographic neighbors. However, western Turkic peoples sampled across West Eurasia shared an excess of long chromosomal tracts that are identical by descent (IBD) with populations from present-day South Siberia and Mongolia (SSM), an area where historians center a series of early Turkic and non-Turkic steppe polities. While SSM matching IBD tracts (> 1cM) are also observed in non-Turkic populations, Turkic peoples demonstrate a higher percentage of such tracts (p-values ≤ 0.01) compared to their non-Turkic neighbors. Finally, we used the ALDER method and inferred admixture dates (~9th–17th centuries) that overlap with the Turkic migrations of the 5th–16th centuries. Thus, our results indicate historical admixture among Turkic peoples, and the recent shared ancestry with modern populations in SSM supports one of the hypothesized homelands for their nomadic Turkic and related Mongolic ancestors. Centuries of nomadic migrations have ultimately resulted in the distribution of Turkic languages over a large area ranging from Siberia, across Central Asia to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Despite the profound cultural impact left by these nomadic peoples, little is known about their prehistoric origins. Moreover, because contemporary Turkic speakers tend to genetically resemble their geographic neighbors, it is not clear whether their nomadic ancestors left an identifiable genetic trace. In this study, we show that Turkic-speaking peoples sampled across the Middle East, Caucasus, East Europe, and Central Asia share varying proportions of Asian ancestry that originate in a single area, southern Siberia and Mongolia. Mongolic- and Turkic-speaking populations from this area bear an unusually high number of long chromosomal tracts that are identical by descent with Turkic peoples from across west Eurasia. Admixture induced linkage disequilibrium decay across chromosomes in these populations indicates that admixture occurred during the 9th–17th centuries, in agreement with the historically recorded Turkic nomadic migrations and later Mongol expansion. Thus, our findings reveal genetic traces of recent large-scale nomadic migrations and map their source to a previously hypothesized area of Mongolia and southern Siberia.

Hereditary forms of hearing impairment (HI) caused by GJB2 (Cx26) mutations are the frequent sensory disorders registered among newborns in various human populations. In this study, we present data on the molecular, audiological and population features of autosomal recessive deafness 1A (DFNB1A) associated with the donor splicing site IVS1+1G>A mutation of GJB2 gene in Yakut population isolate of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) located in Eastern Siberia (Russian Federation). The Yakut population exhibits high frequency of some Mendelian disorders, which are rare in other populations worldwide. Mutational analysis of GJB2 gene in 86 unrelated Yakut patients with congenital HI without other clinical features has been performed. In this study, we registered a large cohort of Yakut patients homozygous for the IVS1+1G>A mutation (70 unrelated deaf subjects in total). Detailed audiological analysis of 40 deaf subjects with genotype IVS1+1G>A/IVS1+1G>A revealed significant association of this genotype with mostly symmetrical bilateral severe to profound HI (85% severe-to-profound HI versus 15% mild-to-moderate HI, PA mutation (11.7%) has been found in Yakut population. Reconstruction of 140 haplotypes with IVS1+1G>A mutation demonstrates the common origin of all mutant chromosomes found in Yakuts. The age of mutation was estimated to be approximately 800 years. These findings characterize Eastern Siberia as the region with the most extensive accumulation of the IVS1+1G>A mutation in the world as a result of founder effect.

Pathogenic variants in the GJB2 gene, encoding connexin 26, are known to be a major cause of hearing impairment (HI). More than 300 allelic variants have been identified in the GJB2 gene. Spectrum and allelic frequencies of the GJB2 gene vary significantly among different ethnic groups worldwide. Until now, the spectrum and frequency of the pathogenic variants in exon 1, exon 2 and the flanking intronic regions of the GJB2 gene have not been described thoroughly in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), which is located in a subarctic region in Russia. The complete sequencing of the non-coding and coding regions of the GJB2 gene was performed in 393 patients with HI (Yakuts—296, Russians—51, mixed and other ethnicities—46) and in 187 normal hearing individuals of Yakut (n = 107) and Russian (n = 80) populations. In the total sample (n = 580), we revealed 12 allelic variants of the GJB2 gene, 8 of which were recessive pathogenic variants. Ten genotypes with biallelic recessive pathogenic variants in the GJB2 gene (in a homozygous or a compound heterozygous state) were found in 192 out of 393 patients (48.85%). We found that the most frequent GJB2 pathogenic variant in the Yakut patients was c.-23+1G>A (51.82%) and that the second most frequent was c.109G>A (2.37%), followed by c.35delG (1.64%). Pathogenic variants с.35delG (22.34%), c.-23+1G>A (5.31%), and c.313_326del14 (2.12%) were found to be the most frequent among the Russian patients. The carrier frequencies of the c.-23+1G>A and с.109G>A pathogenic variants in the Yakut control group were 10.20% and 2.80%, respectively. The carrier frequencies of с.35delG and c.101T>C were identical (2.5%) in the Russian control group. We found that the contribution of the GJB2 gene pathogenic variants in HI in the population of the Sakha Republic (48.85%) was the highest among all of the previously studied regions of Asia. We suggest that extensive accumulation of the c.-23+1G>A pathogenic variant in the indigenous Yakut population (92.20% of all mutant chromosomes in patients) and an extremely high (10.20%) carrier frequency in the control group may indicate a possible selective advantage for the c.-23+1G>A carriers living in subarctic climate.