posted on 2018-10-18, 09:35authored byMingkun XieMingkun Xie, Feng Song, Jienan Li, Min Lang, Xiaoqin Qian, Mengge Wang, Haibo Luo, Zheng WangZheng Wang, Jin Wu, Ye Li, Yiping Hou
The complex topography of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China with three
major mountains and two basins has hindered large-scale human migrations,
admixture and assimilation. Essentially, the specific history and population structure of Uyghurs in
Xinjiang has remained a matter of contention for a long time. Here, we explored
the genetic history of the Uyghurs (n=546) from 5 geographical regions using 27 Y-STR markers.Population
structure analysis supported the Uyghurs were genetically closer to Central
Asian than other populations. We also observed slight difference between
northern Xinjiang and southern Xinjiang. We unveiled a more
complex genetic structure and ancestral admixture history
of Uyghurs, which suggested early human
activities happening in Xinjiang.
Funding
National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0800703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81871532 and 81571854) and the Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities (No. 20825041A4001)