Objective
The primary goal of this project proposal is to delineate the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA)lineages distributed among the Turkic-speaking Todzhi, Tofalars, Tubalars, Telesi, Mongolian-speaking Tuvinians, Ketting-speaking Kets, and Uralic-speaking Nganasans, and determine their diversities and divergence times. With the exception of the Tuvinians, these small indigenous populations represent the remnants of hunting tribal groups of the Altai-Sayan Plateau - Yenisey River - Taimir Peninsula region; an area of central-northern Asia in which paleolithical populations underwent profound differentiation and geographical expansions due to rich and diverse natural resources found southward of glaciers.
This research will ensure both the integrity of the blood sample collection, processing, analysis,and evaluation. Mollar genetic analyses will be carried out on the mtDNA, the male-specific regions of the Y chromosome, and HLA genes through PCR amplification SSCP, high resolution RFLP analyses, and sequencing. As a result, new data from vanishing Siberian peoples who have not previously been characterized for mtDNA and nDNA variation will be generated. The resulting allelic and haplotype frequencies will then be integrated with those previously obtained from other Siberian populations, and compared with those of Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans through phylogenetic and sequence divergence analyses.
The implementation of this project not only will generate new data about the origins of aboriginal Siberian peoples, but it will also provide insights concerning the primary genetic source for the founding population(s) of the New World. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the variation of mitochondrial and nuclear genes in this part of the globe represents an important contribution to the debate on the nature and process of modern human evolution.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
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72076 Tuumbingen
Germany