The Genetic History of the Aleut People

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

In recent years, ancient DNA research has transformed our understanding of human history. In the Americas, ancient genomes have revealed new and surprising details, such as the presence of previously unknown populations, previously unsuspected relationships between groups, and new estimates of dates for past events in human history. Although recent studies have investigated the origins and history of different Native American groups, few have focused on the indigenous peoples of the Aleutian Islands, a population that may prove central to our understanding of human dispersals in the western hemisphere. The analysis of genomes from ancient and contemporary Aleuts will allow us to better understand the origins of these peoples, how they adapted to a challenging environment, and how European contact and recent population events have affected their genetic diversity. This research is supported by Aleut political and cultural leaders, who are interested in using genetic approaches to better understand their people's history. Results from this project will be used in education materials for the participating communities, as well as in initiatives designed to train Native American students in genetics. The Americas were the last continents to become inhabited by humans, but it has recently become clear that the history of this process was far more complicated than originally understood based on archaeology alone. For example, current archaeological evidence suggests that the Aleutian Islands were peopled approximately 9,000 years ago in a series of population movements from the Alaska Peninsula westward, with groups inhabiting the western islands by about 3,000 years ago. A recently published analysis of genomic-scale data from ancient and contemporary peoples of the Arctic, which includes data from a few ancient individuals from the Eastern Aleutian islands, indicates that the Aleutian gene pool dates to approximately 5,000 years ago, leaving a 4,000 year discrepancy between archaeological and genetic records. One hypothesis to resolve the discrepancy between the genetic and archaeological dates holds that the earliest ancestors of Native Americans - who lived in Beringia approximately 20,000 years ago - may have moved southward to the Alaska Peninsula, eventually peopling the present-day central and western islands. The investigators will test this hypothesis and uncover additional details of the history of the peopling of the Aleutian Islands through the analysis of complete genomes from ancient and contemporary Aleuts. They will also assess the demographic effects of European contact beginning in the 18th century on Aleut populations, and characterize the genetic adaptations of ancient and contemporary Aleuts to the challenging environmental conditions present in the archipelago over time. This research was developed in a partnership between Aleut political and cultural leadership and the researchers at the University of Kansas, which is the result of a decades-long collaboration. This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology Programs, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Arctic Social Science Program at the National Science Foundation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.