Genomic insight into the origins and dispersal of the Brazilian coastal natives

Author(s):Show less -

Castro e Silva, Marcos Araujo ^[1] ; Nunes, Kelly ^[1] ; Lemes, Renan Barbosa ^[1] ; Mas-Sandoval, Alex ^{[2, 3]} ; Guerra Amorim, Carlos Eduardo ^[4] ; Krieger, Jose Eduardo ^[5] ; Mill, Jose Geraldo ^[6] ; Salzano, Francisco Mauro ^[2] ; Bortolini, Maria Catira ^[2] ; Pereira, Alexandre da Costa ^[5] ; Comas, David ^[3] ; Hunemeier, Tabita ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Genet & Biol Evolut, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Inst Biociencias, Dept Genet, BR-91501970 Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[3] Univ Pompeu Fabra, Inst Biol Evolut CSIC UPF, Dept Ciencies Expt & Salut, Barcelona 08003 - Spain

^[4] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Los Angeles, CA 90095 - USA

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Hosp Clin, Inst Coracao, Fac Med, BR-05403000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Espirito Santo, Dept Fisiol, BR-29040090 Vitoria, ES - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; v. 117, n. 5, p. 2372-2377, FEB 4 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

In the 15th century, similar to 900,000 Native Americans, mostly Tupi speakers, lived on the Brazilian coast. By the end of the 18th century, the coastal native populations were declared extinct. The Tupi arrived on the east coast after leaving the Amazonian basin similar to 2,000 y before present; however, there is no consensus on how this migration occurred: toward the northern Amazon and then directly to the Atlantic coast, or heading south into the continent and then migrating to the coast. Here we leveraged genomic data from one of the last remaining putative representatives of the Tupi coastal branch, a small, admixed, self-reported Tupiniquim community, as well as data of a Guarani Mbya native population from Southern Brazil and of three other native populations from the Amazonian region. We demonstrated that the Tupiniquim Native American ancestry is not related to any extant Brazilian Native American population already studied, and thus they could be considered the only living representatives of the extinct Tupi branch that used to settle the Atlantic Coast of Brazil. Furthermore, these data show evidence of a direct migration from Amazon to the Northeast. Coast in pre-Columbian time, giving rise to the Tupi Coastal populations, and a single distinct migration southward that originated the Guarani people from Brazil and Paraguay. This study elucidates the population dynamics and diversification of the Brazilian natives at a genomic level, which was made possible by recovering data from the Brazilian coastal population through the genomes of mestizo individuals. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/26875-9 - Native American genome diversity
• Grantee: Tábita Hünemeier
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants