A bioinformatic and anthropological research team led by Prof. Zhang Huqin from the XJTU School of Life Science and Technology, collaborating with researchers from other 42 institutions, including Prof. Wang Chuanchao from Xiamen University and Prof. David Reich from Harvard Medical School, have published Genomic Insights into the Formation of Human Populations in East Asia in Nature online.

The paper's 85 authors jointly reported genome-wide data from 166 East Asian individuals dating to between 6000 BC and AD 1000 based on data collected from the Wuzhuangguoliang ruins of the Neolithic Age (Shaanxi, China); the Hanben and Gongguan ruins of the Neolithic and Iron Age (Taiwan, China); the Boisman, Yankovsky, and Heishui Mohe ruins in the Russian Far East; the Rokutsu Jomon site in Japan; over 50 ruins in Mongolia; and from other locations. They also shared the genotype data of 383 people from 46 contemporary populations from China and Nepal and 108 direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radio-carbon (14C) dates.

The largest-scale archaeogenomic study of East Asia to date, this research has changed the situation of archaeogenomic research in East Asia, lagging behind that of other regions or countries for a long time, and provided strong evidence on the origin, development, and migration of East Asian humans.

Read the article abstract: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03336-2