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High level of male-biased Scandinavian admixture in Greenlandic Inuit shown by Y-chromosomal analysis

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Abstract

We have used binary markers and microsatellites on the Y chromosome to analyse diversity in a sample of Greenlandic Inuit males. This sample contains Y chromosomes typical of those found in European populations. Because the Y chromosome has a unique and robust phylogeny of a time depth that precedes the split between European and Native American populations, it is possible to assign chromosomes in an admixed population to either continental source. On this basis, 58±6% of these Y chromosomes have been assigned to a European origin. The high proportion of European Y chromosomes contrasts with a complete absence of European mitochondrial DNA and indicates strongly male-biased European admixture into Inuit. Comparison of the European component of Inuit Y chromosomes with European population data suggests that they have their origins in Scandinavia. There are two potential source populations: Norse settlers from Iceland, who may have been assimilated 500 years ago, and the Danish-Norwegian colonists of the eighteenth century. Insufficient differentiation between modern Icelandic and Danish Y chromosomes means that a choice between these cannot be made on the basis of diversity analysis. However, the extreme sex bias in the admixture makes the later event more likely as the source.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the donors of DNA samples. E.B. was supported by the Wellcome Trust, Z.H.R. by a BBSRC studentship, M.E.H. by the McDonald Institute and M.A.J. by a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science (grant no. 057559). We also acknowledge support from the government of Greenland and the Carlsberg Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Elena Bosch, Zoë H. Rosser & Mark A. Jobling

  2. Unitat de Biologia Evolutiva, Facultat de Ciències de la Salut i de la Vida, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Doctor Aiguader 80, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Francesc Calafell

  3. Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Søren Nørby & Niels Lynnerup

  4. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK

    Matthew E. Hurles

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  1. Elena Bosch
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Correspondence to Mark A. Jobling.

Additional information

Electronic database information: URLs for the data in this article are as follows:

European Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database, http://ystr.charite.de/index_gr.html

Asian Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database, http://ystr.org/asia

Network 3.0, http://www.fluxus-engineering.com/

Y Chromosome Consortium Nomenclature, http://ycc.biosci.arizona.edu/

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Bosch, E., Calafell, F., Rosser, Z.H. et al. High level of male-biased Scandinavian admixture in Greenlandic Inuit shown by Y-chromosomal analysis. Hum Genet 112, 353–363 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-003-0913-9

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