Autosomal Make-Up of the Ainu People of Japan

[Siginulfo]

After a lot of time looking for atDNA analyses of the Japanese Ainu I found this interesting article. The authors made raw data available to readers, so I decided to analyse the data myself with the OmniPop 200.1 software. The results were surprising and unexpected. I tentatively associated the closest population of each individual as an autosomal component (for example, Native_American, Sub_Saharan etc.) and I got this:

- 37% East Asian (17/46)
- 20% European (9/46)
- 15% South Asian (7/47)
- 11% North African (5/46)
- 11% Native American (5/46)
- 4% Southeast Asian (2/46)
- 2% Sub Saharan (1/46)

I define this a basal Eurasian make-up. It comprises most atDNA admixtures of Y-DNA CT-derived and mtDNA M/N-derived lineages.

This is the article https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/120/3/120_120322/_article
And this is my analysis http://pdfcast.org/pdf/ainu-autosomal-analysis

[Kale]

Hmm...well in lieu of any formal studies being done, this certainly offers at least some insight.

37% East Asian - To be expected, considering mix with Japanese
20% European - Well people have always theorized there was some connection
15% South Asian - Makes some sense I guess, being along the coastal migration and whatnot
11% North African - Say what now? Basal Eurasian...maybe?
11% Native American - Sure why not?
4% Southeast Asian - I would expect that to be much higher.
2% SSA - Noise or just archaic retention or whatever.

Good work.

[Siginulfo]

Hmm...well in lieu of any formal studies being done, this certainly offers at least some insight.

37% East Asian - To be expected, considering mix with Japanese
20% European - Well people have always theorized there was some connection
15% South Asian - Makes some sense I guess, being along the coastal migration and whatnot
11% North African - Say what now? Basal Eurasian...maybe?
11% Native American - Sure why not?
4% Southeast Asian - I would expect that to be much higher.
2% SSA - Noise or just archaic retention or whatever.

Good work.

Thanks Kale. I also expected much more SE Asian, though if you read the source article you will see that also the authors find that Ainu are much closer to Bengali than to Indonesians, so my results overlap (partially) with theirs.
Regarding the SSA, my theory is that the SSA component is derived from the mixing of Paleo-Africans (Y-DNA A, B; mtDNA L) and Neo-Africans from Eurasia (Y-DNA E; mtDNA M1, U6), so naturally half of it is Eurasian-derived. So the "archaic retention" suggested by you is most likely.

[Siginulfo]

It is possible that I got these results because of the lack of Oceanian populations to compare. Autosomal SNP data is better than STR data, so the results of the study I linked in the latest thread are certainly more accurate than my results here.

[Insuperable]

Amazing.

[barbatus]

That's really interesting. They definitely have a certain caucasoid look to them, don't they? I always assumed it was just proto-mongoloid features but this seems to give credence to the Eurasian theories.

[Siginulfo]

Keep in mind that the "components" I indicated above are only indicative of the closest population to each individual, though the distance is still very high (we are talking about E+11, which is very far). Let's only say that Ainu people are a bit closer to West Eurasians than to East Eurasians, but they are still very far from either.

[Kale]

It is possible that I got these results because of the lack of Oceanian populations to compare. Autosomal SNP data is better than STR data, so the results of the study I linked in the latest thread are certainly more accurate than my results here.

O hell yes. Oceanian being quite divergent from the rest it's constituents will not get neatly divided. I'm sure there would've been a sizeable Oceanian component if one was available.

[Insuperable]

Wait a minute. On how many autosomes is this based on? One of the last information about Ainu autosomal data comes from 1994 by Cavalli Sforza. I would bet they also based their research on few autosomes like 10 or 15. I don't understand why people don't concentrate more on this interesting group of people.

[Siginulfo]

Wait a minute. On how many autosomes is this based on? One of the last information about Ainu autosomal data comes from 1994 by Cavalli Sforza. I would bet they also based their research on few autosomes like 10 or 15. I don't understand why people don't concentrate more on this interesting group of people.

9 autosomal STRs. I agree, they deserve to be studied more (or better, they deserved, given that they are gone now).

[Insuperable]

9 autosomal STRs. I agree, they deserve to be studied more (or better, they deserved, given that they are gone now).

That is almost worthless. It is almost impossible to find any decent autosomal info about Ainu. They just study their haplotypes and when you find some autosomal data it is usually worthless. I think they should cluster closely with SE Asians with strong connections with Northern Amerindians.

[Isleño]

After a lot of time looking for atDNA analyses of the Japanese Ainu I found this interesting article. The authors made raw data available to readers, so I decided to analyse the data myself with the OmniPop 200.1 software. The results were surprising and unexpected. I tentatively associated the closest population of each individual as an autosomal component (for example, Native_American, Sub_Saharan etc.) and I got this:

- 37% East Asian (17/46)
- 20% European (9/46)
- 15% South Asian (7/47)
- 11% North African (5/46)
- 11% Native American (5/46)
- 4% Southeast Asian (2/46)
- 2% Sub Saharan (1/46)

I define this a basal Eurasian make-up. It comprises most atDNA admixtures of Y-DNA CT-derived and mtDNA M/N-derived lineages.

This is the article https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/120/3/120_120322/_article
And this is my analysis http://pdfcast.org/pdf/ainu-autosomal-analysis

I bet at least one person in Latin America has a similar mix to that.

[Siginulfo]

That is almost worthless. It is almost impossible to find any decent autosomal info about Ainu. They just study their haplotypes and when you find some autosomal data it is usually worthless. I think they should cluster closely with SE Asians with strong connections with Northern Amerindians.

There's good news. I link you to this other thread. Ainu/Jomon are closely related to Melanesians http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?135774-Denisovan-Neanderthal-admixture-in-ancient-Jomon-from-Japan