Investigating modern human population history and dynamics: A genomic analysis of Georgian populations of the South Caucasus

调查现代人类人口历史和动态：南高加索格鲁吉亚人口的基因组分析

基本信息

批准号：
1824826
负责人：
Theodore Schurr
金额：
$ 46.71万
依托单位：
University of Pennsylvania
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-04-01 至 2024-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1824826&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Investigating modern human population history

项目摘要

This project will combine genomic, historical, archaeological and linguistic data to advance our understanding of modern human population history with respect to the expansion of agriculture, cultures, and populations in Eurasia. The project will generate new data about Georgian populations that can be utilized by scientific researchers and the general public, thereby expanding the collective knowledge of anthropology, genetics and human history. The project will strengthen substantive international research collaborations with Georgian scholars, provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, contribute to course content for biological anthropology and population genetics courses, and promote public dissemination of the scientific results through publications and lectures in both the United States and Georgia. The results of the study will also be shared with participants by the international research team. In this interdisciplinary study, developed in collaboration with scholars from the Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnology and the Tbilisi State Medical University, the investigators will conduct a survey of genomic diversity in modern Georgian populations, which will reveal new details about human phylogeography, sex-biased contributions to genetic diversity, patterns of admixture and migration, and the modern human settlement of Eurasia. Through fieldwork in the region, the investigators will obtain genealogical data and DNA samples from ~1250 individuals living there. For these newly collected samples, and for ~700 previously collected samples from the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, they will analyze mtDNA, Y-chromosome and autosomal variation, including through whole genome sequencing. These data will be analyzed in conjunction with archeological, ethnological and linguistic evidence. Using this approach, a number of questions will be addressed, including: (a) the Paleolithic settlement of the Caucasus by modern humans; (b) the nature and extent of Neanderthal admixture in Georgian populations; (c) the degree to which local Caucasus populations have genetically influenced Eurasian populations; (d) the biological and cultural impact of the Neolithic spread of agriculture into the Caucasus; and (e) the interactions between Anatolian and Georgian populations over the past ten millennia. This project will generate some of the highest resolution mtDNA, Y-chromosome and autosomal data currently available for Caucasus populations. Finally, these studies of contemporary Caucasus populations will lay the foundation for future ancient DNA analyses of past human populations from various locations and temporal contexts within the region, ones that will provide a clearer diachronic perspective on genetic variation in the Caucasus itself.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将结合基因组、历史、考古和语言数据，以增进我们对现代人类人口历史与欧亚大陆农业、文化和人口扩张的理解。该项目将生成有关格鲁吉亚人口的新数据，可供科学研究人员和公众使用，从而扩大人类学、遗传学和人类历史的集体知识。该项目将加强与格鲁吉亚学者的实质性国际研究合作，为本科生和研究生提供培训机会，为生物人类学和群体遗传学课程内容做出贡献，并通过在美国和美国的出版物和讲座促进科学成果的公开传播和格鲁吉亚。国际研究团队也将与参与者分享研究结果。在这项与伊万·贾瓦赫什维利历史与民族学研究所和第比利斯国立医科大学的学者合作开展的跨学科研究中，研究人员将对现代格鲁吉亚人群的基因组多样性进行调查，这将揭示有关人类谱系地理学、性别的新细节-对遗传多样性、混合和迁徙模式以及欧亚大陆现代人类定居的偏见贡献。通过对该地区的实地考察，研究人员将从居住在那里的约 1250 人那里获得家谱数据和 DNA 样本。对于这些新收集的样本，以及之前从 Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti 地区收集的约 700 个样本，他们将分析 mtDNA、Y 染色体和常染色体变异，包括通过全基因组测序。这些数据将与考古学、民族学和语言学证据结合起来进行分析。使用这种方法，将解决许多问题，包括： (a) 现代人类在旧石器时代定居高加索地区； (b) 格鲁吉亚人口中尼安德特人混杂的性质和程度； (c) 当地高加索人群对欧亚人群的遗传影响程度； (d) 新石器时代农业传播到高加索地区的生物和文化影响； (e) 过去十千年来安纳托利亚人和格鲁吉亚人之间的互动。该项目将生成一些目前可用于高加索人群的最高分辨率的线粒体 DNA、Y 染色体和常染色体数据。最后，这些对当代高加索人群的研究将为未来对来自该地区不同地点和时间背景的过去人类人群的古代 DNA 分析奠定基础，这些分析将为高加索地区本身的遗传变异提供更清晰的历时视角。该奖项反映了通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。