Identifying Genomic Signatures of Evolutionary and Cultural Change in Native Americans

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates how Native American genetic diversity changed over time and across space in response to sociocultural and demographic shifts over the last 1000 years. During this period, Native American populations in the continental US were affected by expanding trade networks, a growing reliance on agriculture, increasingly permanent settlements, and population growth. After AD 1492, European contact led to significant cultural changes as well as disease epidemics, demographic collapse, population restructuring, and genetic exchange with new tribes and non-native peoples. These developments are well documented, but it is not known how they influenced the genetic makeup of Native American populations. By characterizing genetic diversity, this project will help elucidate the genetic structure and evolutionary history of Native North Americans, improve our understanding of how sociocultural, demographic, and evolutionary change influences the human genome, and fill a critical need for genome-wide data from the indigenous inhabitants of the continental US, who have been underrepresented in scientific research and public genetic databases. The project provides research experience and training for undergraduates, graduate students, a postdoctoral researcher, and a K-12 public school science teacher. Educational modules are also being developed for high school and college science courses and for the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics (SING). This project therefore advances scientific knowledge, expands the participation of underrepresented groups in science, improves science education, and increases public engagement with science. Specifically, this project is evaluating temporal and spatial patterns of genetic diversity in the Midwestern US using existing datasets from the region and new genetic data being collected from three burial populations in the Ohio River Basin. The three major goals are: (1) characterize genomic diversity across time and space in the Ohio River Basin, (2) reconstruct the maternal population history of the Midwestern US using spatially and temporally diverse samples from the Ohio River Basin and the Illinois River Valley, and (3) evaluate whether sociocultural and evolutionary changes between 1000 and 1700 AD altered the genomic structure of an ancient population in the Ohio River Basin. To achieve these goals, genomic data will be collected using newly developed target capture and next-generation sequencing technologies. An extensive set of genomic markers (genome-wide SNPs, mitochondrial DNA sequences, and 23 Y chromosome STRs) will be analyzed, which will make it possible to test hypotheses about how post-1000 AD migration, genetic drift, and selection altered the genetic structure of Native Americans. Mitochondrial data from seven other eastern North American sites will be analyzed to develop models of regional interaction.