Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes Reveal Extensive Genetic Influence of the Steppe Pastoralists in Western Xinjiang

2021/09/22 by Chao Ning, Hongxiang Zheng, Fan Zhang +9 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Forensic and Genetic Research #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology #Prehistory #Pastoralism #Bronze Age #Steppe #Mitochondrial DNA #Ancient DNA #Biological dispersal #Geography #Population #Archaeology #Bronze #Biology #Ecology #Demography #Livestock #Genetics

paper · doi:10.3389/fgene.2021.740167

openalex publication_date 2021/09/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

The population prehistory of Xinjiang has been a hot topic among geneticists, linguists, and archaeologists. Current ancient DNA studies in Xinjiang exclusively suggest an admixture model for the populations in Xinjiang since the early Bronze Age. However, almost all of these studies focused on the northern and eastern parts of Xinjiang; the prehistoric demographic processes that occurred in western Xinjiang have been seldomly reported. By analyzing complete mitochondrial sequences from the Xiabandi (XBD) cemetery (3,500-3,300 BP), the up-to-date earliest cemetery excavated in western Xinjiang, we show that all the XBD mitochondrial sequences fall within two different West Eurasian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) pools, indicating that the migrants into western Xinjiang from west Eurasians were a consequence of the early expansion of the middle and late Bronze Age steppe pastoralists (Steppe_MLBA), admixed with the indigenous populations from Central Asia. Our study provides genetic links for an early existence of the Indo-Iranian language in southwestern Xinjiang and suggests that the existence of Andronovo culture in western Xinjiang involved not only the dispersal of ideas but also population movement.

Citations

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Cited by

• History of Xinjiang [wikipedia]