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Susanne Nordenfelt

Bio: Susanne Nordenfelt is an academic researcher from Harvard University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Ancient DNA. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 16 publications receiving 4397 citations. Previous affiliations of Susanne Nordenfelt include Broad Institute & Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
11 Jun 2015-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms.
Abstract: We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of Western and Far Eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ∼8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ∼24,000-year-old Siberian. By ∼6,000-5,000 years ago, farmers throughout much of Europe had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than their predecessors, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but also from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ∼4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ∼75% of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ∼3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.

1,332 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Swapan Mallick1, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick3, Heng Li2, Mark Lipson3, Iain Mathieson3, Melissa Gymrek, Fernando Racimo4, Mengyao Zhao1, Mengyao Zhao3, Mengyao Zhao2, Niru Chennagiri3, Niru Chennagiri1, Niru Chennagiri2, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Susanne Nordenfelt3, Arti Tandon2, Arti Tandon3, Pontus Skoglund2, Pontus Skoglund3, Iosif Lazaridis3, Iosif Lazaridis2, Sriram Sankararaman2, Sriram Sankararaman5, Sriram Sankararaman3, Qiaomei Fu3, Qiaomei Fu2, Qiaomei Fu6, Nadin Rohland2, Nadin Rohland3, Gabriel Renaud7, Yaniv Erlich8, Thomas Willems9, Carla Gallo10, Jeffrey P. Spence4, Yun S. Song11, Yun S. Song4, Giovanni Poletti10, Francois Balloux12, George van Driem13, Peter de Knijff14, Irene Gallego Romero15, Aashish R. Jha16, Doron M. Behar17, Claudio M. Bravi18, Cristian Capelli19, Tor Hervig20, Andrés Moreno-Estrada, Olga L. Posukh21, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky22, Sena Karachanak-Yankova23, Hovhannes Sahakyan24, Hovhannes Sahakyan17, Draga Toncheva23, Levon Yepiskoposyan24, Chris Tyler-Smith25, Yali Xue25, M. Syafiq Abdullah26, Andres Ruiz-Linares12, Cynthia M. Beall27, Anna Di Rienzo16, Choongwon Jeong16, Elena B. Starikovskaya, Ene Metspalu28, Ene Metspalu17, Jüri Parik17, Richard Villems29, Richard Villems17, Richard Villems28, Brenna M. Henn30, Ugur Hodoglugil31, Robert W. Mahley32, Antti Sajantila33, George Stamatoyannopoulos34, Joseph Wee, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Sergey Litvinov35, Sergey Litvinov17, George Ayodo36, David Comas37, Michael F. Hammer38, Toomas Kivisild17, Toomas Kivisild39, William Klitz, Cheryl A. Winkler40, Damian Labuda41, Michael J. Bamshad34, Lynn B. Jorde42, Sarah A. Tishkoff11, W. Scott Watkins42, Mait Metspalu17, Stanislav Dryomov, Rem I. Sukernik43, Lalji Singh5, Lalji Singh44, Kumarasamy Thangaraj44, Svante Pääbo7, Janet Kelso7, Nick Patterson2, David Reich1, David Reich3, David Reich2 
13 Oct 2016-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.
Abstract: Here we report the Simons Genome Diversity Project data set: high quality genomes from 300 individuals from 142 diverse populations. These genomes include at least 5.8 million base pairs that are not present in the human reference genome. Our analysis reveals key features of the landscape of human genome variation, including that the rate of accumulation of mutations has accelerated by about 5% in non-Africans compared to Africans since divergence. We show that the ancestors of some pairs of present-day human populations were substantially separated by 100,000 years ago, well before the archaeologically attested onset of behavioural modernity. We also demonstrate that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.

1,133 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Iosif Lazaridis1, Iosif Lazaridis2, Nick Patterson1, Alissa Mittnik3, Gabriel Renaud4, Swapan Mallick1, Swapan Mallick2, Karola Kirsanow5, Peter H. Sudmant6, Joshua G. Schraiber7, Joshua G. Schraiber6, Sergi Castellano4, Mark Lipson8, Bonnie Berger1, Bonnie Berger8, Christos Economou9, Ruth Bollongino5, Qiaomei Fu4, Kirsten I. Bos3, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Heng Li1, Heng Li2, Cesare de Filippo4, Kay Prüfer4, Susanna Sawyer4, Cosimo Posth3, Wolfgang Haak10, Fredrik Hallgren11, Elin Fornander11, Nadin Rohland1, Nadin Rohland2, Dominique Delsate12, Michael Francken3, Jean-Michel Guinet12, Joachim Wahl, George Ayodo, Hamza A. Babiker13, Hamza A. Babiker14, Graciela Bailliet, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky, Ramiro Barrantes15, Gabriel Bedoya16, Haim Ben-Ami17, Judit Bene18, Fouad Berrada19, Claudio M. Bravi, Francesca Brisighelli20, George B.J. Busby21, Francesco Calì, Mikhail Churnosov22, David E. C. Cole23, Daniel Corach24, Larissa Damba, George van Driem25, Stanislav Dryomov26, Jean-Michel Dugoujon27, Sardana A. Fedorova28, Irene Gallego Romero29, Marina Gubina, Michael F. Hammer30, Brenna M. Henn31, Tor Hervig32, Ugur Hodoglugil33, Aashish R. Jha29, Sena Karachanak-Yankova34, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Rick A. Kittles30, Toomas Kivisild36, William Klitz7, Vaidutis Kučinskas37, Alena Kushniarevich38, Leila Laredj39, Sergey Litvinov38, Theologos Loukidis40, Theologos Loukidis41, Robert W. Mahley42, Béla Melegh18, Ene Metspalu43, Julio Molina, Joanna L. Mountain, Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi44, Desislava Nesheva34, Thomas B. Nyambo45, Ludmila P. Osipova, Jüri Parik43, Fedor Platonov28, Olga L. Posukh, Valentino Romano46, Francisco Rothhammer47, Francisco Rothhammer48, Igor Rudan14, Ruslan Ruizbakiev49, Hovhannes Sahakyan50, Hovhannes Sahakyan38, Antti Sajantila51, Antonio Salas52, Elena B. Starikovskaya26, Ayele Tarekegn, Draga Toncheva34, Shahlo Turdikulova49, Ingrida Uktveryte37, Olga Utevska53, René Vasquez54, Mercedes Villena54, Mikhail Voevoda55, Cheryl A. Winkler56, Levon Yepiskoposyan50, Pierre Zalloua2, Pierre Zalloua57, Tatijana Zemunik58, Alan Cooper10, Cristian Capelli21, Mark G. Thomas41, Andres Ruiz-Linares41, Sarah A. Tishkoff59, Lalji Singh60, Kumarasamy Thangaraj61, Richard Villems38, Richard Villems43, Richard Villems62, David Comas63, Rem I. Sukernik26, Mait Metspalu38, Matthias Meyer4, Evan E. Eichler6, Joachim Burger5, Montgomery Slatkin7, Svante Pääbo4, Janet Kelso4, David Reich1, David Reich2, David Reich64, Johannes Krause4, Johannes Krause3 
Broad Institute1, Harvard University2, University of Tübingen3, Max Planck Society4, University of Mainz5, University of Washington6, University of California, Berkeley7, Massachusetts Institute of Technology8, Stockholm University9, University of Adelaide10, The Heritage Foundation11, National Museum of Natural History12, Sultan Qaboos University13, University of Edinburgh14, University of Costa Rica15, University of Antioquia16, Rambam Health Care Campus17, University of Pécs18, Al Akhawayn University19, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart20, University of Oxford21, Belgorod State University22, University of Toronto23, University of Buenos Aires24, University of Bern25, Russian Academy of Sciences26, Paul Sabatier University27, North-Eastern Federal University28, University of Chicago29, University of Arizona30, Stony Brook University31, University of Bergen32, Illumina33, Sofia Medical University34, Bashkir State University35, University of Cambridge36, Vilnius University37, Estonian Biocentre38, University of Strasbourg39, Amgen40, University College London41, Gladstone Institutes42, University of Tartu43, University of Oulu44, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences45, University of Palermo46, University of Chile47, University of Tarapacá48, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan49, Armenian National Academy of Sciences50, University of North Texas51, University of Santiago de Compostela52, University of Kharkiv53, Higher University of San Andrés54, Novosibirsk State University55, Leidos56, Lebanese American University57, University of Split58, University of Pennsylvania59, Banaras Hindu University60, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology61, Estonian Academy of Sciences62, Pompeu Fabra University63, Howard Hughes Medical Institute64
18 Sep 2014-Nature
TL;DR: It is shown that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west Europeanhunter-gatherer related ancestry.
Abstract: We sequenced the genomes of a ∼7,000-year-old farmer from Germany and eight ∼8,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analysed these and other ancient genomes with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry. We model these populations' deep relationships and show that early European farmers had ∼44% ancestry from a 'basal Eurasian' population that split before the diversification of other non-African lineages.

1,077 citations

Iosif Lazaridis1, Iosif Lazaridis2, Nick Patterson2, Alissa Mittnik3, Gabriel Renaud4, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick1, Karola Kirsanow5, Peter H. Sudmant6, Joshua G. Schraiber6, Joshua G. Schraiber7, Sergi Castellano4, Mark Lipson8, Bonnie Berger8, Bonnie Berger2, Christos Economou9, Ruth Bollongino5, Qiaomei Fu4, Kirsten I. Bos3, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Heng Li2, Heng Li1, Cesare de Filippo4, Kay Prüfer4, Susanna Sawyer4, Cosimo Posth3, Wolfgang Haak10, Fredrik Hallgren11, Elin Fornander11, Nadin Rohland2, Nadin Rohland1, Dominique Delsate12, Michael Francken3, Jean-Michel Guinet12, Joachim Wahl, George Ayodo, Hamza A. Babiker13, Hamza A. Babiker14, Graciela Bailliet, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky, Ramiro Barrantes15, Gabriel Bedoya16, Haim Ben-Ami17, Judit Bene18, Fouad Berrada19, Claudio M. Bravi, Francesca Brisighelli20, George B.J. Busby21, Francesco Calì, Mikhail Churnosov22, David E. C. Cole23, Daniel Corach24, Larissa Damba, George van Driem25, Stanislav Dryomov26, Jean-Michel Dugoujon27, Sardana A. Fedorova28, Irene Gallego Romero29, Marina Gubina, Michael F. Hammer30, Brenna M. Henn31, Tor Hervig32, Ugur Hodoglugil33, Aashish R. Jha29, Sena Karachanak-Yankova34, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Rick A. Kittles30, Toomas Kivisild36, William Klitz7, Vaidutis Kučinskas37, Alena Kushniarevich38, Leila Laredj39, Sergey Litvinov38, Theologos Loukidis40, Theologos Loukidis41, Robert W. Mahley42, Béla Melegh18, Ene Metspalu43, Julio Molina, Joanna L. Mountain, Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi44, Desislava Nesheva34, Thomas B. Nyambo45, Ludmila P. Osipova, Jüri Parik43, Fedor Platonov28, Olga L. Posukh, Valentino Romano46, Francisco Rothhammer47, Francisco Rothhammer48, Igor Rudan13, Ruslan Ruizbakiev49, Hovhannes Sahakyan38, Hovhannes Sahakyan50, Antti Sajantila51, Antonio Salas52, Elena B. Starikovskaya26, Ayele Tarekegn, Draga Toncheva34, Shahlo Turdikulova49, Ingrida Uktveryte37, Olga Utevska53, René Vasquez54, Mercedes Villena54, Mikhail Voevoda55, Cheryl A. Winkler56, Levon Yepiskoposyan50, Pierre Zalloua1, Pierre Zalloua57, Tatijana Zemunik58, Alan Cooper10, Cristian Capelli21, Mark G. Thomas41, Andres Ruiz-Linares41, Sarah A. Tishkoff59, Lalji Singh60, Kumarasamy Thangaraj61, Richard Villems62, Richard Villems38, Richard Villems43, David Comas63, Rem I. Sukernik26, Mait Metspalu38, Matthias Meyer4, Evan E. Eichler6, Joachim Burger5, Montgomery Slatkin7, Svante Pääbo4, Janet Kelso4, David Reich64, David Reich1, David Reich2, Johannes Krause3, Johannes Krause4 
Harvard University1, Broad Institute2, University of Tübingen3, Max Planck Society4, University of Mainz5, University of Washington6, University of California, Berkeley7, Massachusetts Institute of Technology8, Stockholm University9, University of Adelaide10, The Heritage Foundation11, National Museum of Natural History12, University of Edinburgh13, Sultan Qaboos University14, University of Costa Rica15, University of Antioquia16, Rambam Health Care Campus17, University of Pécs18, Al Akhawayn University19, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart20, University of Oxford21, Belgorod State University22, University of Toronto23, University of Buenos Aires24, University of Bern25, Russian Academy of Sciences26, Paul Sabatier University27, North-Eastern Federal University28, University of Chicago29, University of Arizona30, Stony Brook University31, University of Bergen32, Illumina33, Sofia Medical University34, Bashkir State University35, University of Cambridge36, Vilnius University37, Estonian Biocentre38, University of Strasbourg39, Amgen40, University College London41, Gladstone Institutes42, University of Tartu43, University of Oulu44, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences45, University of Palermo46, University of Chile47, University of Tarapacá48, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan49, Armenian National Academy of Sciences50, University of North Texas51, University of Santiago de Compostela52, University of Kharkiv53, Higher University of San Andrés54, Novosibirsk State University55, Leidos56, Lebanese American University57, University of Split58, University of Pennsylvania59, Banaras Hindu University60, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology61, Estonian Academy of Sciences62, Pompeu Fabra University63, Howard Hughes Medical Institute64
01 Sep 2014
TL;DR: The authors showed that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunters-gatherer related ancestry.
Abstract: We sequenced the genomes of a ∼7,000-year-old farmer from Germany and eight ∼8,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analysed these and other ancient genomes with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry. We model these populations' deep relationships and show that early European farmers had ∼44% ancestry from a 'basal Eurasian' population that split before the diversification of other non-African lineages.

442 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work presents an adaptation of a popular ancient library preparation method that makes screening more efficient, using a protocol that causes characteristic ancient DNA damage to be restricted to the terminal nucleotides, while nearly eliminating it in the interior of the DNA molecules.
Abstract: The challenge of sequencing ancient DNA has led to the development of specialized laboratory protocols that have focused on reducing contamination and maximizing the number of molecules that are extracted from ancient remains. Despite the fact that success in ancient DNA studies is typically obtained by screening many samples to identify a promising subset, ancient DNA protocols have not, in general, focused on reducing the time required to screen samples. We present an adaptation of a popular ancient library preparation method that makes screening more efficient. First, the DNA extract is treated using a protocol that causes characteristic ancient DNA damage to be restricted to the terminal nucleotides, while nearly eliminating it in the interior of the DNA molecules, allowing a single library to be used both to test for ancient DNA authenticity and to carry out population genetic analysis. Second, the DNA molecules are ligated to a unique pair of barcodes, which eliminates undetected cross-contamination from this step onwards. Third, the barcoded library molecules include incomplete adapters of short length that can increase the specificity of hybridization-based genomic target enrichment. The adapters are completed just before sequencing, so the same DNA library can be used in multiple experiments, and the sequences distinguished. We demonstrate this protocol on 60 ancient human samples.

365 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Some of the key events in the peopling of the world in the light of the findings of work on ancient DNA are reviewed.
Abstract: Ancient DNA research is revealing a human history far more complex than that inferred from parsimonious models based on modern DNA. Here, we review some of the key events in the peopling of the world in the light of the findings of work on ancient DNA.

1,365 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
11 Jun 2015-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms.
Abstract: We generated genome-wide data from 69 Europeans who lived between 8,000-3,000 years ago by enriching ancient DNA libraries for a target set of almost 400,000 polymorphisms. Enrichment of these positions decreases the sequencing required for genome-wide ancient DNA analysis by a median of around 250-fold, allowing us to study an order of magnitude more individuals than previous studies and to obtain new insights about the past. We show that the populations of Western and Far Eastern Europe followed opposite trajectories between 8,000-5,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Neolithic period in Europe, ∼8,000-7,000 years ago, closely related groups of early farmers appeared in Germany, Hungary and Spain, different from indigenous hunter-gatherers, whereas Russia was inhabited by a distinctive population of hunter-gatherers with high affinity to a ∼24,000-year-old Siberian. By ∼6,000-5,000 years ago, farmers throughout much of Europe had more hunter-gatherer ancestry than their predecessors, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but also from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ∼4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ∼75% of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ∼3,000 years ago, and is ubiquitous in present-day Europeans. These results provide support for a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe.

1,332 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Swapan Mallick1, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick3, Heng Li1, Mark Lipson2, Iain Mathieson2, Melissa Gymrek, Fernando Racimo4, Mengyao Zhao3, Mengyao Zhao2, Mengyao Zhao1, Niru Chennagiri3, Niru Chennagiri2, Niru Chennagiri1, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Susanne Nordenfelt3, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Arti Tandon1, Arti Tandon2, Pontus Skoglund2, Pontus Skoglund1, Iosif Lazaridis2, Iosif Lazaridis1, Sriram Sankararaman2, Sriram Sankararaman5, Sriram Sankararaman1, Qiaomei Fu2, Qiaomei Fu6, Qiaomei Fu1, Nadin Rohland1, Nadin Rohland2, Gabriel Renaud7, Yaniv Erlich8, Thomas Willems9, Carla Gallo10, Jeffrey P. Spence4, Yun S. Song4, Yun S. Song11, Giovanni Poletti10, Francois Balloux12, George van Driem13, Peter de Knijff14, Irene Gallego Romero15, Aashish R. Jha16, Doron M. Behar17, Claudio M. Bravi18, Cristian Capelli19, Tor Hervig20, Andrés Moreno-Estrada, Olga L. Posukh21, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky22, Sena Karachanak-Yankova23, Hovhannes Sahakyan24, Hovhannes Sahakyan17, Draga Toncheva23, Levon Yepiskoposyan24, Chris Tyler-Smith25, Yali Xue25, M. Syafiq Abdullah26, Andres Ruiz-Linares12, Cynthia M. Beall27, Anna Di Rienzo16, Choongwon Jeong16, Elena B. Starikovskaya, Ene Metspalu28, Ene Metspalu17, Jüri Parik17, Richard Villems17, Richard Villems28, Richard Villems29, Brenna M. Henn30, Ugur Hodoglugil31, Robert W. Mahley32, Antti Sajantila33, George Stamatoyannopoulos34, Joseph Wee, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Sergey Litvinov35, Sergey Litvinov17, George Ayodo36, David Comas37, Michael F. Hammer38, Toomas Kivisild17, Toomas Kivisild39, William Klitz, Cheryl A. Winkler40, Damian Labuda41, Michael J. Bamshad34, Lynn B. Jorde42, Sarah A. Tishkoff11, W. Scott Watkins42, Mait Metspalu17, Stanislav Dryomov, Rem I. Sukernik43, Lalji Singh5, Lalji Singh44, Kumarasamy Thangaraj44, Svante Pääbo7, Janet Kelso7, Nick Patterson1, David Reich2, David Reich1, David Reich3 
13 Oct 2016-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.
Abstract: Here we report the Simons Genome Diversity Project data set: high quality genomes from 300 individuals from 142 diverse populations. These genomes include at least 5.8 million base pairs that are not present in the human reference genome. Our analysis reveals key features of the landscape of human genome variation, including that the rate of accumulation of mutations has accelerated by about 5% in non-Africans compared to Africans since divergence. We show that the ancestors of some pairs of present-day human populations were substantially separated by 100,000 years ago, well before the archaeologically attested onset of behavioural modernity. We also demonstrate that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.

1,133 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
11 Jun 2015-Nature
TL;DR: It is shown that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia.
Abstract: The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

1,088 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
24 Dec 2015-Nature
TL;DR: A genome-wide scan for selection using ancient DNA is reported, capitalizing on the largest ancient DNA data set yet assembled: 230 West Eurasians who lived between 6500 and 300 bc, including 163 with newly reported data.
Abstract: Ancient DNA makes it possible to observe natural selection directly by analysing samples from populations before, during and after adaptation events. Here we report a genome-wide scan for selection using ancient DNA, capitalizing on the largest ancient DNA data set yet assembled: 230 West Eurasians who lived between 6500 and 300 bc, including 163 with newly reported data. The new samples include, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide ancient DNA from Anatolian Neolithic farmers, whose genetic material we obtained by extracting from petrous bones, and who we show were members of the population that was the source of Europe's first farmers. We also report a transect of the steppe region in Samara between 5600 and 300 bc, which allows us to identify admixture into the steppe from at least two external sources. We detect selection at loci associated with diet, pigmentation and immunity, and two independent episodes of selection on height.

1,083 citations