Genetic Structure of Qiangic Populations Residing in the Western Sichuan Corridor

2014/08/04 by Chuan‐Chao Wang, Ling-Xiang Wang, Rukesh Shrestha +5 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Arts and Humanities · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Genetic diversity and population structure #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Haplogroup #Mitochondrial DNA #Genetic structure #Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup #Biology #Evolutionary biology #Gene pool #Geography #Haplotype #Genetics #Population #Genetic variation #Demography #Genetic diversity #Gene #Genotype

paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103772

openalex publication_date 2014/08/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

The Qiangic languages in western Sichuan (WSC) are believed to be the oldest branch of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family, and therefore, all Sino-Tibetan populations might have originated in WSC. However, very few genetic investigations have been done on Qiangic populations and no genetic evidences for the origin of Sino-Tibetan populations have been provided. By using the informative Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers, we analyzed the genetic structure of Qiangic populations. Our results revealed a predominantly Northern Asian-specific component in Qiangic populations, especially in maternal lineages. The Qiangic populations are an admixture of the northward migrations of East Asian initial settlers with Y chromosome haplogroup D (D1-M15 and the later originated D3a-P47) in the late Paleolithic age, and the southward Di-Qiang people with dominant haplogroup O3a2c1*-M134 and O3a2c1a-M117 in the Neolithic Age.

Citations

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Cited by

• Haplogroup D-M174 [wikipedia]
• Haplogroup O-M122 [wikipedia]
• Qiang people [wikipedia]