Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history

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dc.contributor.authorSchiffels, S.
dc.contributor.authorHaak, W.
dc.contributor.authorPaajanen, P.
dc.contributor.authorLlamas, B.
dc.contributor.authorPopescu, E.
dc.contributor.authorLoe, L.
dc.contributor.authorClarke, R.
dc.contributor.authorLyons, A.
dc.contributor.authorMortimer, R.
dc.contributor.authorSayer, D.
dc.contributor.authorTyler-Smith, C.
dc.contributor.authorCooper, A.
dc.contributor.authorDurbin, R.
dc.date.issued2016
dc.descriptionPublished 19 January 2016
dc.description.abstractBritish population history has been shaped by a series of immigrations, including the early Anglo-Saxon migrations after 400 CE. It remains an open question how these events affected the genetic composition of the current British population. Here, we present whole-genome sequences from 10 individuals excavated close to Cambridge in the East of England, ranging from the late Iron Age to the middle Anglo-Saxon period. By analysing shared rare variants with hundreds of modern samples from Britain and Europe, we estimate that on average the contemporary East English population derives 38% of its ancestry from Anglo-Saxon migrations. We gain further insight with a new method, rarecoal, which infers population history and identifies fine-scale genetic ancestry from rare variants. Using rarecoal we find that the Anglo-Saxon samples are closely related to modern Dutch and Danish populations, while the Iron Age samples share ancestors with multiple Northern European populations including Britain.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityStephan Schiffels, w, Wolfgang Haak, w, Pirita Paajanen, w, Bastien Llamas, Elizabeth Popescu, Louise Loe, Rachel Clarke, Alice Lyons, Richard Mortimer, Duncan Sayer, Chris Tyler-Smith, Alan Cooper and Richard Durbin
dc.identifier.citationNature Communications, 2016; 7(1):10408-1-10408-9
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/ncomms10408
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.orcidHaak, W. [0000-0003-2475-2007]
dc.identifier.orcidLlamas, B. [0000-0002-5550-9176]
dc.identifier.orcidCooper, A. [0000-0002-7738-7851]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/99729
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNature Publishing Group
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130102158
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10408
dc.subjectGenome, Human
dc.titleIron Age and Anglo-Saxon genomes from East England reveal British migration history
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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