Angela
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"The genetic landscape of Iran and the legacy of Zoroastrianism: Comparing haplotype sharing patterns among ancient and modern day samples using a mixture model."
This is the abstract released at the conference:
http://quantitative-genomics.com/programme/QuantGen16ConferenceBook.pdf
"Iran is considered a pivotal region in the Fertile Crescent, occupying a central space between Africa and Eurasia, andhas thus been extensively studied to infer the development of the earliest human civilizations and farming settlements.From a historical and cultural perspective, this region is also of great interest as the cradle of Zoroastrianism. Withreported roots dating back to the second millennium BC in Iran, Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the worldand is now mainly concentrated in India, Iran, and Southern Pakistan. In this work we present novel genotype datafrom present-day Zoroastrians from Iran and India, along with a high coverage (10x) early Neolithic sample from Iran(7,455-7,082 BC), comparing these samples to publicly available genome-wide genotypes from >200 modern and ancientgroups worldwide to elucidate patterns of shared ancestry. We apply a novel Bayesian mixture model to represent theDNA from modern and ancient groups or individuals as mixtures of that from other sampled groups or individuals,using a haplotype-based approach that is more powerful than commonly-used algorithms. Our mixture model identifieswhich sampled groups are most related to one another genetically, reflecting shared common ancestry relative to othergroups due to e.g. admixture (i.e. intermixing of genetically distinct groups) or other historical processes. Interestingly,analysis of ancestry patterns revealed strong a!nities of the Neolithic Iranian sample to modern-day Pakistani andIndian populations, and particularly to Iranian Zoroastrians, in stark contrast to Neolithic samples from Europe. Wealso identify, describe and date recent admixture events in modern-day Iranian groups that have altered their currentgenetic make-up relative to these ancient origins."
I think this may be a sample from the highly CHG admixed Neolithic group we've been discussing on other threads, which I've speculated may be the group which brought the Neolithic to South Asia. I hope they got the yDna to see if we're right that it has more J2.
The comment about Iranian Zoroastrians is interesting in light of the fact that most Iranians were Zoroastrians prior to the arrival of Islam, or at least that's how I remember it, although I'm no expert on this religion. Is that the case?
If that is so, it might imply some change wrought on the Iranian population groups by the arrival of Islam. I believe certain Iranian groups and families do claim descent from this new group although I know some people have been skeptical of it.
I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that a minority religion might retain more of an older genetic signature. I think that's what the Assyrian Christians did to a certain degree, and certainly a group like the Samaritans. I'll be surprised if it's a huge difference, however. I think there was probably a steady increase in more Anatolian like farmer ancestry, and then of specifically Arabian like ancestry even before Islam arrived. I could be wrong, though.
I'm sure there were other genetic influences as well, which will be very interesting to see.
Btw, this is the same group that wrote the much maligned paper on the "Aegean" Neolithic. Perhaps if they now say things that support various agendas, they'll suddenly be discovered to be very good researchers indeed.
This is the abstract released at the conference:
http://quantitative-genomics.com/programme/QuantGen16ConferenceBook.pdf
"Iran is considered a pivotal region in the Fertile Crescent, occupying a central space between Africa and Eurasia, andhas thus been extensively studied to infer the development of the earliest human civilizations and farming settlements.From a historical and cultural perspective, this region is also of great interest as the cradle of Zoroastrianism. Withreported roots dating back to the second millennium BC in Iran, Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the worldand is now mainly concentrated in India, Iran, and Southern Pakistan. In this work we present novel genotype datafrom present-day Zoroastrians from Iran and India, along with a high coverage (10x) early Neolithic sample from Iran(7,455-7,082 BC), comparing these samples to publicly available genome-wide genotypes from >200 modern and ancientgroups worldwide to elucidate patterns of shared ancestry. We apply a novel Bayesian mixture model to represent theDNA from modern and ancient groups or individuals as mixtures of that from other sampled groups or individuals,using a haplotype-based approach that is more powerful than commonly-used algorithms. Our mixture model identifieswhich sampled groups are most related to one another genetically, reflecting shared common ancestry relative to othergroups due to e.g. admixture (i.e. intermixing of genetically distinct groups) or other historical processes. Interestingly,analysis of ancestry patterns revealed strong a!nities of the Neolithic Iranian sample to modern-day Pakistani andIndian populations, and particularly to Iranian Zoroastrians, in stark contrast to Neolithic samples from Europe. Wealso identify, describe and date recent admixture events in modern-day Iranian groups that have altered their currentgenetic make-up relative to these ancient origins."
I think this may be a sample from the highly CHG admixed Neolithic group we've been discussing on other threads, which I've speculated may be the group which brought the Neolithic to South Asia. I hope they got the yDna to see if we're right that it has more J2.
The comment about Iranian Zoroastrians is interesting in light of the fact that most Iranians were Zoroastrians prior to the arrival of Islam, or at least that's how I remember it, although I'm no expert on this religion. Is that the case?
If that is so, it might imply some change wrought on the Iranian population groups by the arrival of Islam. I believe certain Iranian groups and families do claim descent from this new group although I know some people have been skeptical of it.
I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that a minority religion might retain more of an older genetic signature. I think that's what the Assyrian Christians did to a certain degree, and certainly a group like the Samaritans. I'll be surprised if it's a huge difference, however. I think there was probably a steady increase in more Anatolian like farmer ancestry, and then of specifically Arabian like ancestry even before Islam arrived. I could be wrong, though.
I'm sure there were other genetic influences as well, which will be very interesting to see.
Btw, this is the same group that wrote the much maligned paper on the "Aegean" Neolithic. Perhaps if they now say things that support various agendas, they'll suddenly be discovered to be very good researchers indeed.
