Jeong et al. 2019
Authors: Choongwon Jeong, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Lukianova, Nurzhibek Kahbatkyzy, Pavel Flegontov, Valery Zaporozhchenko, Alexander Immel, Chuan-Chao Wang, Olzhas Ixan, Elmira Khussainova, Bakhytzhan Bekmanov, Victor Zaibert, Maria Lavryashina, Elvira Pocheshkhova, Yuldash Yusupov, Anastasiya Agdzhoyan, Sergey Koshel, Andrei Bukin, Pagbajabyn Nymadawa, Shahlo Turdikulova, Dilbar Dalimova, Mikhail Churnosov, Roza Skhalyakho, Denis Daragan, Yuri Bogunov, Anna Bogunova, Alexandr Shtrunov, Nadezhda Dubova, Maxat Zhabagin, Levon Yepiskoposyan, Vladimir Churakov, Nikolay Pislegin, Larissa Damba, Ludmila Saroyants, Khadizhat Dibirova, Lubov Atramentova, Olga Utevska, Eldar Idrisov, Evgeniya Kamenshchikova, Irina Evseeva, Mait Metspalu, Alan K Outram, Martine Robbeets, Leyla Djansugurova, Elena Balanovska, Stephan Schiffels, Wolfgang Haak, David Reich and Johannes Krause
Abstract: The indigenous populations of inner Eurasia-a huge geographic region covering the central Eurasian steppe and the northern Eurasian taiga and tundra-harbour tremendous diversity in their genes, cultures and languages. In this study, we report novel genome-wide data for 763 individuals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. We furthermore report additional damage-reduced genome-wide data of two previously published individuals from the Eneolithic Botai culture in Kazakhstan (~5,400 BP). We find that present-day inner Eurasian populations are structured into three distinct admixture clines stretching between various western and eastern Eurasian ancestries, mirroring geography. The Botai and more recent ancient genomes from Siberia show a decrease in contributions from so-called 'ancient North Eurasian' ancestry over time, which is detectable only in the northern-most 'forest-tundra' cline. The intermediate 'steppe-forest' cline descends from the Late Bronze Age steppe ancestries, while the 'southern steppe' cline further to the south shows a strong West/South Asian influence. Ancient genomes suggest a northward spread of the southern steppe cline in Central Asia during the first millennium BC. Finally, the genetic structure of Caucasus populations highlights a role of the Caucasus Mountains as a barrier to gene flow and suggests a post-Neolithic gene flow into North Caucasus populations from the steppe.