Southern genes in Korean population

The following abstract is interesting from the standpoint of Solheim's Nusantao theory as it suggests a 45% "southern" contribution to the present Korean population. This would agree with Solheim's proposal that Nusantao were involved in the Yayoi migration to Japan from Shandong and southern Korea. I'll try to get the article to see if they postulate how this situation came about.

Int J Legal Med. 2005 Jul;119(4):195-201. Epub 2005 Apr 27.

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes and their applications to forensic and population studies in east Asia.

Kwak KD, Jin HJ, Shin DJ, Kim JM, Roewer L, Krawczak M, Tyler-Smith C, Kim W.

Department of Biological Sciences, Dankook University, Cheonan, 330-714, South Korea.

We have analyzed 11 Y-STR loci (DYS19, the two DYS385 loci, DYS388, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DXYS156Y) in 700 males from ten ethnic groups in east Asia in order to evaluate their usefulness for forensic and population genetic studies. A total of 644 different haplotypes were identified, among which 603 (86.14%) were individual-specific. The haplotype diversity averaged over all populations was 0.9997; using only the nine Y-STRs comprising the "minimal haplotype" (excluding DYS388 and DXYS156Y) it was 0.9996, a value similar to that found in 1924 samples from other Asian populations (0.9996; Lessig et al. Legal Medicine 5(2003) 160-163), and slightly higher than in European populations (0.9976; n=11,610; Roewer et al. For Sci International (2001) 118:103-111). All of the individual east Asian populations examined here had high haplotype diversity (> or =0.997), except for the Mongolians (0.992) and Manchurians (0.960). The most frequent haplotype identi! fied by the nine markers was present at only 1% (7/700). Population comparisons based on Phi(ST) or rho genetic distance measures revealed clustering according to the traditional northeast-southeast distinction, but with exceptions. For example, the Yunnan population from southern China lay among the northern populations, possibly reflecting recent migration, while the Korean population, traditionally considered northern, lay at the boundary between northern and southern populations. An admixture estimate suggested 55(51-59)% northern, 45(41-49)% southern contribution to the Koreans, illustrating the complexity of the genetic history of this region.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento