Mitochondrial DNA variation is an indicator of Austronesian influence in Island Melanesia

Abstract

Past studies have shown a consistent association of a specific set of mitochondrial DNA 9 base pair (bp) deletion haplotypes with Polynesians and their Austronesian-speaking relatives, and the total lack of the deletion in a short series of New Guinea Highlanders. Utilizing plasma and DNA samples from various old laboratory collections, we have extended population screening for the 9-bp deletion into "Island Melanesia," an area notorious for its extreme population variation. While the 9-bp deletion is present in all Austronesian, and many non-Austronesian-speaking groups, it is absent in the more remote non-Austronesian populations in Bougainville and New Britain. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that this deletion was first introduced to this region about 3,500 years ago with the arrival of Austronesian-speaking peoples from the west, but has not yet diffused through all populations there. The pattern cannot be reconciled with the competing hypothesis of a primarily indigenous Melanesian origin for the ancestors of the Polynesians. Although selection clearly has operated on some other genetic systems in this region, both migration and random genetic drift primarily account for the remarkable degree of biological diversity in these small Southwest Pacific populations.