African origin of modern humans in East Asia: a tale of 12,000 Y chromosomes

Science. 2001 May 11;292(5519):1151-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1060011.

Abstract

To test the hypotheses of modern human origin in East Asia, we sampled 12,127 male individuals from 163 populations and typed for three Y chromosome biallelic markers (YAP, M89, and M130). All the individuals carried a mutation at one of the three sites. These three mutations (YAP+, M89T, and M130T) coalesce to another mutation (M168T), which originated in Africa about 35,000 to 89,000 years ago. Therefore, the data do not support even a minimal in situ hominid contribution in the origin of anatomically modern humans in East Asia.

Publication types

  • Comment
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Africa / ethnology
  • Alleles
  • Asia
  • Female
  • Gene Frequency / genetics
  • Haplotypes / genetics
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Pacific Islands
  • Phylogeny*
  • Polymorphism, Genetic / genetics
  • Population Density
  • Y Chromosome / genetics*