The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the world, and their origins, development, and expansion are complex. Many genetic studies have shown that Han Chinese can be divided into two distinct groups: northern Han Chinese and southern Han Chinese. The genetic history of the southern Han Chinese has been well studied. However, the genetic history of the northern Han Chinese is still obscure. In order to gain insight into the genetic history of the northern Han Chinese, 89 human remains were sampled from the Hengbei site which is located in the Central Plain and dates back to a key transitional period during the rise of the Han Chinese (approximately 3,000 years ago). We used 64 authentic mtDNA data obtained in this study, 27 Y chromosome SNP data profiles from previously studied Hengbei samples, and genetic datasets of the current Chinese populations and two ancient northern Chinese populations to analyze the relationship between the ancient people of Hengbei and present-day northern Han Chinese. We used a wide range of population genetic analyses, including principal component analyses, shared mtDNA haplotype analyses, and geographic mapping of maternal genetic distances. The results show that the ancient people of Hengbei bore a strong genetic resemblance to present-day northern Han Chinese and were genetically distinct from other present-day Chinese populations and two ancient populations. These findings suggest that the genetic structure of northern Han Chinese was already shaped 3,000 years ago in the Central Plain area.
During the Han Dynasty (260 BC-220 AD), the Huaxia ethnic group developed into a tribe known as the Han Chinese [3]. Because of their advanced agriculture and technology, this group migrated northward into regions inhabited by many ancient northern ethnic groups that were most likely Altaic in origin [4]. In addition, they migrated south into regions originally inhabited by ancient southern ethnic groups, including those speaking the Daic, Austro-Asiatic, and Hmong-Mien languages [3]. Historically, the Han Chinese dispersed across China, becoming the largest of the 56 officially recognized ethni
Geneticists are increasingly paying close attention to the Han Chinese, studying the group’s origin and development. To date, studies of classic genetic markers and microsatellites have revealed that the Han Chinese can be divided into two distinct groups: the northern Han Chinese (NH) and the southern Han Chinese (SH) [9,10]. Based on present-day genetic data from NH, SH, and southern minorities, the genetic history of the SH group has been well studied. The consensus is that the Han Chinese migrated south and contributed greatly to the paternal gene pool of the SH, whereas the Han Chinese and ancient southern ethnic groups both contributed almost equally to the SH maternal gene pool [11].
The Han Chinese originated from the Central Plain region, which is substantially smaller than the region the Han Chinese now occupy. According to historical documents, the Han Chinese suffered many conflicts with natives prior to expansion into their lands[3]. The Han migrated northward into regions inhabited by many ancient northern ethnic groups. Based on the advanced agriculture, technology, and culture, the Han Chinese or their ancestors often had a greater demographic advantage over ancient northern ethnic groups. Thus, the Han Chinese or their ancestors might have played a predominant role in the genetic mixture of populations. This scenario would mean that the genetic structure of the NH was shaped a long time ago. In our study, the HB population showed great genetic affinities with the NH when maternal lineages were tested. First, the HB contained a distribution and component of mtDNA similar to that of the NH and clustered closely together with the NH in the PCA plot. Second, the HB shared more haplotypes with the NH than with other populations in the haplotype-sharing analysis. Third, the FST value from comparisons between the HB and NH populations was lowest and negative. Generally, FST value should theoretically range between 0 and 1. However, if the estimate of within diversity is larger than the estimate obtained of variance among groups, negative FST values should be obtained, and they are represented as equal to zero[48,49]. It indicated that HB bore a very high similarity to NH populations. Considering the location and culture of the HB, we suggest that the NH might have provided a significant contribution to the HB and find that the maternal genetic profiles of the NH were shaped 3,000 years ago.
These conclusions are further supported by the relationship between the HB and NM, XN, and XB. In our study, the PCA plot is consistent with the SH not only mixing with the SM but also with the NH, which is consistent with a previous genetic study that concluded that the SH was formed from almost equal contributions of southward migrating Han Chinese and southern natives [11]. However, the NH and NM group into two separate clusters, which is not consistent with their current geographic distributions because these two populations often live together in the northern region of China. Moreover, XN,XB1 and XB2 pool into the NM and are far away from HB and NH. A haplotype-sharing analysis of the three ancient populations and each present-day Han Chinese population shows that the fraction of haplotypes from HB is significantly higher than that from XN, XB1 and XB2 (all of the p values of HB/XN, HB/XB1 and XB2 are less than 0.01, two-tailed t-test; S4 Fig). In the FST comparisons, the FST values of the XN/HB, XB/HB, XB/NH, XN/NH, and NM/NH are significantly higher, and all of the p values are less than 0.05, indicating that the XN and XB were distinct from the NH and HB (S3 Fig). This finding indicates that the ancient populations of the XN and XB had a limited maternal genetic impact on present-day Han Chinese.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0125676
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