瑞士生物信息学研究所Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas，美国再生基因中心Olivier Delaneau和丹麦哥本哈根大学J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar共同合作，近期取得重要工作进展。他们研究提出，古代拉帕努伊人的基因组揭示出他们的适应力以及在欧洲人到来之前与美洲的接触。相关研究成果2024年9月11日在线发表于《自然》杂志上。

据介绍，拉帕努伊（也被称为复活节岛）是世界上最孤立的有人居住的地方之一。由于其考古记录吸引了许多人的想象力，其中包括被称为moai的标志性巨石雕像。对拉帕努伊的广泛研究中出现了两个突出的争论。首先，拉帕努伊的历史被视为资源过度开采的警告故事，这最终会导致人口的大规模崩溃——即“生态灭绝”理论。其次，在欧洲人接触之前，跨太平洋航行到美洲的可能性仍然存在争议。

为了解决这些问题，研究人员根据放射性碳测定（公元1670-1950年）和全基因组测序（0.4-25.6×）的15个古代拉帕努伊个体，重建了拉帕努伊人的基因组历史。研究人员发现，这些人起源于波利尼西亚，与今天的拉帕努伊关系最密切，这一发现将有助于遣返工作。通过有效的种群规模重建和广泛的种群遗传学模拟，研究人员反对了生态灭绝理论提出的17世纪出现严重种群瓶颈的情况。

此外，古代和现在的拉帕努伊人也有类似比例的美洲原住民混血（约10%）。使用结合遗传和放射性碳测年的贝叶斯方法，研究人员估计这种混合事件发生在公园1250-1430年左右。

附：英文原文

Title: Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas

Author: Moreno-Mayar, J. Vctor, Sousa da Mota, Brbara, Higham, Tom, Klemm, Signe, Gorman Edmunds, Moana, Stenderup, Jesper, Iraeta-Orbegozo, Miren, Laborde, Vronique, Heyer, Evelyne, Torres Hochstetter, Francisco, Friess, Martin, Allentoft, Morten E., Schroeder, Hannes, Delaneau, Olivier, Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo

Issue&Volume: 2024-09-11

Abstract: Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. It has captured the imagination of many owing to its archaeological record, which includes iconic megalithic statues called moai1. Two prominent contentions have arisen from the extensive study of Rapa Nui. First, the history of the Rapanui has been presented as a warning tale of resource overexploitation that would have culminated in a major population collapse—the ‘ecocide’ theory2,3,4. Second, the possibility of trans-Pacific voyages to the Americas pre-dating European contact is still debated5,6,7. Here, to address these questions, we reconstructed the genomic history of the Rapanui on the basis of 15 ancient Rapanui individuals that we radiocarbon dated (1670–1950CE) and whole-genome sequenced (0.4–25.6×). We find that these individuals are Polynesian in origin and most closely related to present-day Rapanui, a finding that will contribute to repatriation efforts. Through effective population size reconstructions and extensive population genetics simulations, we reject a scenario involving a severe population bottleneck during the 1600s, as proposed by the ecocide theory. Furthermore, the ancient and present-day Rapanui carry similar proportions of Native American admixture (about 10%). Using a Bayesian approach integrating genetic and radiocarbon dates, we estimate that this admixture event occurred about 1250–1430CE.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07881-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07881-4