A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia

A.S. Malaspinas, M.C. Westaway, C. Muller, V.C. Sousa, O. Lao, I. Alves, A. Bergström, G. Athanasiadis, J.Y. Cheng, J.E. Crawford, T.H. Heupink, E. MacHoldt, S. Peischl, S. Rasmussen, S. Schiffels, S. Subramanian, J.L. Wright, A. Albrechtsen, C. Barbieri, I. DupanloupA. Eriksson, A. Margaryan, I. Moltke, I. Pugach, T.S. Korneliussen, I.P. Levkivskyi, J.V. Moreno-Mayar, S. Ni, F. Racimo, M. Sikora, Y. Xue, F.A. Aghakhanian, N. Brucato, S. Brunak, P.F. Campos, W. Clark, S. Ellingvåg, G. Fourmile, P. Gerbault, D. Injie, G. Koki, M. Leavesley, B. Logan, A. Lynch, E.A. Matisoo-Smith, P.J. McAllister, A.J. Mentzer, M. Metspalu, A.B. Migliano, L. Murgha, M.E. Phipps, W. Pomat, D. Reynolds, F.X. Ricaut, P. Siba, M.G. Thomas, T. Wales, C.M.R. Wall, S.J. Oppenheimer, C. Tyler-Smith, R. Durbin, Joe Dortch, A. Manica, M.H. Schierup, R.A. Foley, M.M. Lahr, C. Bowern, J.D. Wall, T. Mailund, M. Stoneking, R. Nielsen, M.S. Sandhu, L. Excoffier, D.M. Lambert, E. Willerslev

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

362 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reservedThe population history of Aboriginal Australians remains largely uncharacterized. Here we generate high-coverage genomes for 83 Aboriginal Australians (speakers of Pama-Nyungan languages) and 25 Papuans from the New Guinea Highlands. We find that Papuan and Aboriginal Australian ancestors diversified 25-40 thousand years ago (kya), suggesting pre-Holocene population structure in the ancient continent of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania). However, all of the studied Aboriginal Australians descend from a single founding population that differentiated ∼10-32 kya. We infer a population expansion in northeast Australia during the Holocene epoch (past 10,000 years) associated with limited gene flow from this region to the rest of Australia, consistent with the spread of the Pama-Nyungan languages. We estimate that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from Eurasians 51-72 kya, following a single out-of-Africa dispersal, and subsequently admixed with archaic populations. Finally, we report evidence of selection in Aboriginal Australians potentially associated with living in the desert.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207-214
Number of pages8
JournalNature
Volume538
Issue number7624
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this