Cited by 208Forensic and Genetic ResearchPacific and Southeast Asian StudiesPleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

Genomic insights into population history and biological adaptation in Oceania

Open access
Choin, Jeremy, Mendoza-Revilla, Javier, Arauna, Lara R., Cuadros-Espinoza, Sebastian, Cassar, Olivier, Larena, Maximilian, Ko, Albert Min-Shan, Harmant, Christine +14 more·2021·Nature

Abstract

The Pacific region is of major importance for addressing questions regarding human dispersals, interactions with archaic hominins and natural selection processes 1. However, the demographic and adaptive history of Oceanian populations remains largely uncharacterized. Here we report high-coverage genomes of 317 individuals from 20 populations from the Pacific region. We find that the ancestors of Papuan-related ('Near Oceanian') groups underwent a strong bottleneck before the settlement of the region, and separated around 20,000-40,000 years ago. We infer that the East Asian ancestors of Pacific populations may have diverged from Taiwanese Indigenous peoples before the Neolithic expansion, which is thought to have started from Taiwan around 5,000 years ago 2-4. Additionally, this dispersal was not followed by an immediate, single admixture event with Near Oceanian populations, but involved recurrent episodes of genetic interactions. Our analyses reveal marked differences in the proportion and nature of Denisovan heritage among Pacific groups, suggesting that independent interbreeding with highly structured archaic populations occurred. Furthermore, whereas introgression of Neanderthal genetic information facilitated the adaptation of modern humans related to multiple phenotypes (for example, metabolism, pigmentation and neuronal development), Denisovan introgression was primarily beneficial for immune-related functions. Finally, we report evidence of selective sweeps and polygenic adaptation associated with pathogen exposure and lipid metabolism in the Pacific region, increasing our understanding of the mechanisms of biological adaptation to island environments.

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Crossref · 10.1038/s41586-021-03236-5

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Authors
Choin, J., Mendoza-Revilla, J., Arauna, L. R., Cuadros-Espinoza, S., Cassar, O., Larena, M., Ko, A. M.-S., Harmant, C., Laurent, R., Verdu, P., Laval, G., Boland, A., Olaso, R., Deleuze, J.-F., Valentin, F., Ko, Y.-C., Jakobsson, M., Gessain, A., Excoffier, L., Stoneking, M., Patin, E., & Quintana-Murci, L.
Affiliations
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Uppsala University (SE)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
  • China Medical University (TW)
  • University of Bern (CH)
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
Venue
Nature
Published
2021-04-14
Volume
592
Issue
7855
Pages
583-589
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W3152915323
Cited by
208
References
103
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 1
FWCI
19.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-INBS-0009, ANR-10-LABX-0069, ANR-16-CONV-0005, ANR-10-LABX-0062)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Keywords
Papuan populations, population bottleneck, East Asian ancestry, Taiwan indigenous peoples, Neolithic dispersal, admixture, Denisovan introgression, Neanderthal introgression, lipid metabolism, pathogen exposure, polygenic adaptation, selective sweeps, island adaptation, human dispersal
MeSH terms
Genetic Introgression, Adaptation, Biological, Animals, Australia, Biological Evolution, Asia, Eastern, Genetics, Population, Humans, Pacific Ocean, Taiwan, Genome, Human, Genomics, Oceania, History, Ancient, Neanderthals, Islands, Human Migration, Datasets as Topic

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