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Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis
- Takehiro Sato1,
- Tetsuya Amano2,
- Hiroko Ono2,
- Hajime Ishida3,
- Haruto Kodera4,
- Hirofumi Matsumura5,
- Minoru Yoneda6 &
- …
- Ryuichi Masuda1,7
Journal of Human Geneticsvolume 52, pages618–627 (2007)Cite this article
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Abstract
In order to investigate the phylogenetic status of the Okhotsk people that were distributed in northern and eastern Hokkaido as well as southern Sakhalin during the fifth to the thirteenth centuries, DNA was carefully extracted from human bone and tooth remains excavated from archaeological sites. The hypervariable region 1 sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region were successfully amplified and 16 mtDNA haplotypes were identified from 37 individuals of the Okhotsk people. Of the 16 haplotypes found, 6 were unique to the Okhotsk people, whereas the other 10 were shared by northeastern Asian people that are currently distributed around Sakhalin and downstream of the Amur River. The phylogenetic relationships inferred from mtDNA sequences showed that the Okhotsk people were more closely related to the Nivkhi and Ulchi people among populations of northeastern Asia. In addition, the Okhotsk people had a relatively closer genetic affinity with the Ainu people of Hokkaido, and were likely intermediates of gene flow from the northeastern Asian people to the Ainu people. These findings support the hypothesis that the Okhotsk culture joined the Satsumon culture (direct descendants of the Jomon people) resulting in the Ainu culture, as suggested by previous archaeological and anthropological studies.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Naoko Takezaki (Kagawa University) for technical advice concerning directions of the SENDBS program. This study was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for the Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and by the twenty-first Century Center of Excellence (COE) program “Neo-Science of Natural History” at Hokkaido University financed from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan.
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Authors and Affiliations
Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
Takehiro Sato & Ryuichi Masuda
Hokkaido University Museum, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
Tetsuya Amano & Hiroko Ono
Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, 903-0215, Japan
Hajime Ishida
School of Dental Medicine, Tsurumi University, Yokohama, 230-8501, Japan
Haruto Kodera
Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, 060-8556, Japan
Hirofumi Matsumura
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, 277-8562, Japan
Minoru Yoneda
Creative Research Initiative “Sousei”, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan
Ryuichi Masuda
- Takehiro Sato
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- Tetsuya Amano
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- Hiroko Ono
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- Hajime Ishida
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- Haruto Kodera
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- Hirofumi Matsumura
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- Minoru Yoneda
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- Ryuichi Masuda
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Sato, T., Amano, T., Ono, H.et al. Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis.J Hum Genet52, 618–627 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z
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