Genome-wide Analysis Indicates More Asian than Melanesian Ancestry of Polynesians
The latest issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics has a new paper on Polynesian ancestry by Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking’s lab(s):
Analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nonrecombining Y chromosome (NRY) variation in the same populations are sometimes concordant but sometimes discordant. Perhaps the most dramatic example known of the latter concerns Polynesians, in which about 94% of Polynesian mtDNAs are of East Asian origin, while about 66% of Polynesian Y chromosomes are of Melanesian origin.
Here we analyze on a genome-wide scale, to our knowledge for the first time, the origins of the autosomal gene pool of Polynesians by screening 377 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci in 47 Pacific Islanders and compare the results with those obtained from 44 Chinese and 24 individuals from Papua New Guinea.
Our data indicate that on average about 79% of the Polynesian autosomal gene pool is of East Asian origin and 21% is of Melanesian origin. The genetic data thus suggest a dual origin of Polynesians with a high East Asian but also considerable Melanesian component, reflecting sex-biased admixture in Polynesian history in agreement with the Slow Boat model.
More generally, these results also demonstrate that conclusions based solely on uniparental markers, which are frequently used in population history studies, may not accurately reflect the history of the autosomal gene pool of a population.
Abstract: Genome-wide Analysis Indicates More Asian than Melanesian Ancestry of Polynesians (doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.09.010)
Posted on 
January 10th, 2008 by 
Simon Greenhill
2 Responses to “Genome-wide Analysis Indicates More Asian than Melanesian Ancestry of Polynesians”
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Email Henry Updates to Me
March 29th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
weren’t the indonesians included in the testing?
any recent genetic test for micronesians? that would be interesting.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hi David,
Here’s the list of samples they used:
It’s a shame they didn’t include anyone from west of PNG except the Chinese (outgroup, right?). As for Micronesian - yes that would be very interesting. Most evidence suggests that they were moved out of Polynesia. I don’t know of any recent work on this, but there’s a nice paper about it here by Koji Lum.
–Simon