Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on September 8, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msj013
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/1/152    most recent
msj013v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Töpf, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hoelzel, A.R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Töpf, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hoelzel, A.R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted September 1, 2005

Research Article

Tracing the Phylogeography of Human Populations in Britain Based on 4th-11th Century mtDNA Genotypes

A. Töpf 1, M.T.P. Gilbert 2, J.P. Dumbacher 3, and A.R. Hoelzel 1*

1 School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
2 Ancient Biomolecules Centre, Departments of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, U.K.; Current address Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 1041 E. Lowell St., Tucson AZ 85271, USA
3 Smithsonian Institution, NMNH - Genetics Program, 3000 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, DC 20008-2537, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
A.R. Hoelzel, E-mail: a.r.hoelzel{at}dur.ac.uk


  Abstract

Some of the transitional periods of Britain during the first millennium AD are traditionally associated with the movement of people from continental Europe, composed largely of invading armies (e.g. the Roman, Saxon and Viking invasions). However, the extent to which these were migrations (as opposed to cultural exchange) remains controversial. We investigated the history of migration by women by amplifying mtDNA from ancient Britons who lived between approximately 300-1,000 AD, and compared these with 3,549 modern mtDNA database genotypes from England, Europe and the Middle East. The objective was to assess the dynamics of the historical population composition by comparing genotypes in a temporal context. Towards this objective we test and calibrate the use of rho-statistics to identify relationships between founder and source populations. We find evidence for shared ancestry between the earliest sites (predating Viking invasions) with modern populations across the north of Europe from Norway to Estonia, possibly reflecting common ancestors dating back to the last glacial epoch. This is in contrast with a late Saxon site in Norwich, where the genetic signature is consistent with more recent immigrations from the south, possibly as part of the Saxon invasions.

Keywords: Ancient DNA; phylogeography; Saxon.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
G. R. Bowden, P. Balaresque, T. E. King, Z. Hansen, A. C. Lee, G. Pergl-Wilson, E. Hurley, S. J. Roberts, P. Waite, J. Jesch, et al.
Excavating Past Population Structures by Surname-Based Sampling: The Genetic Legacy of the Vikings in Northwest England
Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2008; 25(2): 301 - 309.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.