A western Eurasian male is found in 2000‐year‐old elite Xiongnu cemetery in Northeast Mongolia
Institute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
The authors Kijeong Kim and Charles H. Brenner contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorDNA·VIEW, Oakland, CA 94601
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
The authors Kijeong Kim and Charles H. Brenner contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of East Asian Language and Civilization, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Life Science, College of Natural Science, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Archaeology and Art History, College of Humanities, Donga University, Pusan 604‐714, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Science and Culture, Graduate School, Chung‐Ang University, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Institute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and Medical School, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, Republic of KoreaSearch for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
The authors Kijeong Kim and Charles H. Brenner contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorDNA·VIEW, Oakland, CA 94601
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
The authors Kijeong Kim and Charles H. Brenner contributed equally to this work.
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of East Asian Language and Civilization, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Life Science, College of Natural Science, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Archaeology and Art History, College of Humanities, Donga University, Pusan 604‐714, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorNational Museum of Korea, Seoul 140‐026, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Science and Culture, Graduate School, Chung‐Ang University, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorInstitute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Institute for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, South Korea
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and Medical School, Chung‐Ang University, Seoul 156‐756, Republic of KoreaSearch for more papers by this authorAbstract
We analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y‐chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y‐SNP), and autosomal short tandem repeats (STR) of three skeletons found in a 2,000‐year‐old Xiongnu elite cemetery in Duurlig Nars of Northeast Mongolia. This study is one of the first reports of the detailed genetic analysis of ancient human remains using the three types of genetic markers. The DNA analyses revealed that one subject was an ancient male skeleton with maternal U2e1 and paternal R1a1 haplogroups. This is the first genetic evidence that a male of distinctive Indo‐European lineages (R1a1) was present in the Xiongnu of Mongolia. This might indicate an Indo‐European migration into Northeast Asia 2,000 years ago. Other specimens are a female with mtDNA haplogroup D4 and a male with Y‐SNP haplogroup C3 and mtDNA haplogroup D4. Those haplogroups are common in Northeast Asia. There was no close kinship among them. The genetic evidence of U2e1 and R1a1 may help to clarify the migration patterns of Indo‐Europeans and ancient East‐West contacts of the Xiongnu Empire. Artifacts in the tombs suggested that the Xiongnu had a system of the social stratification. The West Eurasian male might show the racial tolerance of the Xiongnu Empire and some insight into the Xiongnu society. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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Supporting Information
Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS1.doc986 KB | Figure S1. The ancient skulls excavated from 2000‐year‐old elite Xiongnu cemetery in northeast Mongolia. (A) The skull of MNX3 West Eurasian male. (B) The skull of MNX4 female |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS2.doc707.5 KB | Figure S2. Neighbor‐joining tree constructed with a total of 8424 concatenated unambiguous HV2 (NP 47‐360) and HV1 (NP 16024‐16380) control region sequences of mtDNA to search for proximate sequences to the ancient Mongolian mtDNA sequences. |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS3.doc164.5 KB | Figure S3. Ancient mtDNA amplification plots for the quantification. (A) Amplification plot of 10‐fold serial dilutions (from 5 × 105 to 50 copies) of mtDNA 440 bp amplicon standard and the standard curve (B) Amplification plot of 10‐fold serial dilutions (from 5 × 105 to 50 copies) of 221 bp amplicon standard and the standard curve (C) MtDNA 440 bp amplication plot with MNX3 ancient samples. (D) Melting curve analysis of mtDNA 440 bp amplicons for the identification. (E) MtDNA 221 bp amplicon plot with MNX3 ancient samples. (F) Melting curve analysis of mtDNA 221 bp amplicons. Note that the copy numbers of 22l bp amplicons are 22‐36 times higher than those of 440 bp amplicons with earlier amplifications. |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS4.doc826.5 KB | Figure S4. Amplification of ancient horse mtDNA. (A) Agarose gel electrophoresis analysis of PCR‐amplified mtDNA from genomic DNA extracts from a horse skeleton (the last molar on the left side of lower jaw) excavated together with ancient human skeletons of tomb No. 2. Predicted horse mtDNA PCR products were successfully obtained only with primers designed for the amplification of a horse mtDNA D‐loop fragment (368 bp) from the two independent horse aDNA extracts (2 μl) (left lanes 1‐4), whereas no amplifiable products were observed with primers for human mtDNA HV1 (F15971/R16410) from those under the same condition (right lanes 1‐4). Primers used for the horse mtDNA: forward, 5′‐CAA CAC CCA AAG CTG AAA TTC TAC‐3′; reverse, 5′‐GGA GCG AGG ATT GGG ACA C‐3′. Lane M, 100‐bp DNA size standards; lane 1, tooth extract No. 1; lane 2, replicate of tooth extract No. 1; lane 3, tooth extract No. 2; lane 4, replicate of tooth extract No. 2; lane DW, distilled water. (B) DNA sequence profile of mtDNA fragment amplified from DNA extracts from ancient horse skeletons (lane 1 and 3). |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS5.tif866.8 KB | Figure S5. Y‐chromosome haplogroup (Hg) determination of ancient sample MNX3 by sequencing. Arrows indicate haplogroup specific mutation position. Big arrows indicate the haplogroup determining change. |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfofigureS6.tif765.6 KB | Figure S6. Y‐chromosome haplogroup (Hg) determination of ancient sample MNX2 by sequencing. Arrows indicate haplogroup specific mutation position. Big arrows indicate the haplogroup determining change. |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS1.doc34.5 KB | Table S1. Metric Cranial Traits: Ancient human skulls of Duurlig Nars, Mongolia |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS2.xls35.5 KB | Table S2. MtDNA sequences proximate to ancient Mongolian DNA sample MNX3 West Eurasian male based on the NJ tree constructed with 8424 partial mtDNA HV1 and HV2 concatenated sequences |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS3.xls35 KB | Table S3. MtDNA sequences proximate to ancient Mongolian DNA sample MNX2 male based on the NJ tree constructed with 8424 partial mtDNA HV1 and HV2 concatenated sequences |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS4.xls37 KB | Table S4. MtDNA sequences proximate to ancient Mongolian DNA sample MNX4 female based on the NJ tree constructed with 8424 partial mtDNA HV1 and HV2 concatenated sequences |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS5.doc48.5 KB | Table S5. mtDNA sequences matching with ancient samples at the highest similarity level |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS6.doc30 KB | Table S6. MtDNA real‐time PCR quantification results of ancient DNA extracts |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS7.doc44.5 KB | Table S7. Nucleotide sequence comparison of clones obtained from amplified ancient mtDNA HV1 fragments with the sequence determined by direct amplicon sequencing |
| AJPA_21242_sm_suppinfotableS8.xls19.5 KB | Table S8. Genotypes of all reseachers involved in processing samples |
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