Analysis of pre-colonial, Ancient American genomes for archaic introgressed haplotypes and alleles
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Ancient DNA is critical in unraveling recent historical events in human evolution, including the discovery of interbreeding between humans and several groups of archaic hominins, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. In this study, we explore the extent of archaic hominin introgression in the genomes of Indigenous, pre-contact Americans, compare the percentage of admixture to other global populations, and look for specific genes or genome regions with uniquely higher levels of archaic ancestry. We collected 39 pre-Columbian ancient Indigenous genomes from the existing literature, processed them, including variant calling, and used admixfrog to detect Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry. In preliminary analysis of the 21st chromosome of six individuals, we found comparable levels of archaic ancestry to modern Eurasian populations. This is an impactful area of study because aDNA is a rapidly growing field, however, political barriers, technical difficulties, and sampling bias have all contributed to sparse sampling of ancient American genomes. Failure to include Indigenous stakeholders with sovereignty over ancient individuals and Eurocentric allele screenings have impacted the accessibility of usable Indigenous genetic data. Ancient American genomic studies are crucial to understanding modern American populations, including cross-disciplinary understanding of ancient migration, archaic introgression patterns, and contemporary Indigenous American population structures.
Author: Chaw, Mia
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7113329579