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Comparative Study
. 2001 Jan 16;98(2):537-42.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.98.2.537.

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

G J Adcock  1 , E S Dennis, S Easteal, G A Huttley, L S Jermiin, W J Peacock, A Thorne
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins

G J Adcock et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Erratum in

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2002 Jan 8;99(1):541

Abstract

DNA from ancient human remains provides perspectives on the origin of our species and the relationship between molecular and morphological variation. We report analysis of mtDNA from the remains of 10 ancient Australians. These include the morphologically gracile Lake Mungo 3 [ approximately 60 thousand years (ka) before present] and three other gracile individuals from Holocene deposits at Willandra Lakes (<10 ka), all within the skeletal range of living Australians, and six Pleistocene/early Holocene individuals (15 to <8 ka) from Kow Swamp with robust morphologies outside the skeletal range of contemporary indigenous Australians. Lake Mungo 3 is the oldest (Pleistocene) "anatomically modern" human from whom DNA has been recovered. His mtDNA belonged to a lineage that only survives as a segment inserted into chromosome 11 of the nuclear genome, which is now widespread among human populations. This lineage probably diverged before the most recent common ancestor of contemporary human mitochondrial genomes. This timing of divergence implies that the deepest known mtDNA lineage from an anatomically modern human occurred in Australia; analysis restricted to living humans places the deepest branches in East Africa. The other ancient Australian individuals we examined have mtDNA sequences descended from the most recent common ancestor of living humans. Our results indicate that anatomically modern humans were present in Australia before the complete fixation of the mtDNA lineage now found in all living people. Sequences from additional ancient humans may further challenge current concepts of modern human origins.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Location of KS and LM and areas from which desert (D) and riverine (R) populations were sampled (41). (B) Phylogenetic tree of mtDNA sequences, with their ages, from ancient (blue, robust; green, gracile) and living Aboriginal Australians (black), the Feldhofer Neandertal, the mitochondrial genome-derived nuclear insert (Insert), and the Cambridge Reference Sequence, with chimpanzee and bonobo sequences used as outgroups. Relative likelihood support (47) is shown for branches A, B, and C.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Distribution of pairwise differences (≈6 × 106 comparisons) of mtDNA sites 12089–16387 among 3,453 contemporary human sequences from the mtDNA database (43), between these sequences and the Insert and LM3 sequences. The distributions are normalized to sum to 100. (B) Likely phylogeny of mtDNA sequences in ancient and contemporary humans.
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Comment in

  • Ancient DNA and the origin of modern humans.
    Relethford JH. Relethford JH. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jan 16;98(2):390-1. doi: 10.1073/pnas.98.2.390. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001. PMID: 11209041 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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