末次盛冰期（the Last Glacial Maximum）是指最近一次冰蓋體積最大的時(shí)期,，距今約2萬年前,。自此至全新世（距今約1萬年前），其間一系列氣候振蕩以及生態(tài)環(huán)境變化,，均可能影響人類的遷徙活動(dòng),。在東亞地區(qū)，盡管考古學(xué)工作不斷發(fā)現(xiàn)在此時(shí)期存在相關(guān)遷徙的痕跡,，然而這些遷徙活動(dòng)是否在當(dāng)今東亞人群的基因庫上留下遺傳印記卻鮮有報(bào)道,。
我們前期的工作（Zhao et al. 2009 PNAS）表明東亞地區(qū)的特有線粒體DNA（mtDNA）單倍型類群（haplogroup）M9a’b是一個(gè)追溯末次冰盛期以來人類遷徙活動(dòng)的有效候選遺傳標(biāo)記。在張亞平院士和孔慶鵬研究員的共同指導(dǎo)下,，博士研究生彭旻晟等人對(duì)該單倍型類群進(jìn)行了詳盡的分析,。結(jié)果顯示，中國(guó)的南部以及東南亞地區(qū)是東亞地區(qū)末次盛冰期之后的人類遷徙的一個(gè)策源地,。更為重要的是,，該工作在遺傳學(xué)上首次揭示了一條源自中國(guó)南部向西延展到印度東北部和喜馬拉雅以南地區(qū)（尼泊爾和錫金）的內(nèi)陸史前遷徙路線。該路線與考古學(xué)上源自中國(guó)南部和東南亞地區(qū)的中石器文化（如：廣西白蓮洞三期文化,，越南和平文化）向西擴(kuò)散相吻合,。基于此,，作者推測(cè)冰期后有利的氣候條件和文化的演進(jìn)可能促成了當(dāng)時(shí)人群的遷徙擴(kuò)散。該項(xiàng)工作亦得到了昆明動(dòng)物研究所姚永剛課題組,、云南大學(xué)和印度北孟加拉大學(xué)的協(xié)助,。
該研究于1月10日發(fā)表于國(guó)際開源刊物《生物醫(yī)學(xué)中心--—生物學(xué)》（BMC Biology），題為“Inland post-glacial dispersal in East Asia revealed by mitochondrial haplogroup M9a'b”（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
BMC Biology 2011, 9:2doi:10.1186/1741-7007-9-2
Inland post-glacial dispersal in East Asia revealed by mitochondrial haplogroup M9a'b
Min-Sheng Peng , Malliya Gounder Palanichamy , Yong-Gang Yao , Bikash Mitra , Yao-Ting Cheng , Mian Zhao , Jia Liu , Hua-Wei Wang , Hui Pan , Wen-Zhi Wang , A-Mei Zhang , Wen Zhang , Dong Wang , Yang Zou , Yang Yang , Tapas Kumar Chaudhuri , Qing-Peng Kong and Ya-Ping Zhang
Background
Archaeological studies have revealed a series of cultural changes around the Last Glacial Maximum in East Asia; whether these changes left any signatures in the gene pool of East Asians remains poorly indicated. To achieve deeper insights into the demographic history of modern humans in East Asia around the Last Glacial Maximum, we extensively analyzed mitochondrial DNA haplogroup M9a'b, a specific haplogroup that was suggested to have some potential for tracing the migration around the Last Glacial Maximum in East Eurasia.
Results
A total of 837 M9a'b mitochondrial DNAs (583 from the literature, while the remaining 254 were newly collected in this study) pinpointed from over 28,000 subjects residing across East Eurasia were studied here. Fifty-nine representative samples were further selected for total mitochondrial DNA sequencing so we could better understand the phylogeny within M9a'b. Based on the updated phylogeny, an extensive phylogeographic analysis was carried out to reveal the differentiation of haplogroup M9a'b and to reconstruct the dispersal histories.
Conclusions
Our results indicated that southern China and/or Southeast Asia likely served as the source of some post-Last Glacial Maximum dispersal(s). The detailed dissection of haplogroup M9a'b revealed the existence of an inland dispersal in mainland East Asia during the post-glacial period. It was this dispersal that expanded not only to western China but also to northeast India and the south Himalaya region. A similar phylogeographic distribution pattern was also observed for haplogroup F1c, thus substantiating our proposition. This inland post-glacial dispersal was in agreement with the spread of the Mesolithic culture originating in South China and northern Vietnam.
