Population genetic history of the ancient reindeer-herding Ewenki people

Abstract

Aim: High-quality genomic resources from underrepresented populations are essential for understanding human genetic origins, population structure, and demographic history. The Ewenki, an ethnolinguistic minority mainly inhabiting the high-latitude, cold regions of Northeast China, remain insufficiently characterized at the genome-wide level. This study aimed to investigate the population structure, ancestral composition, and demographic history of the Ewenki to provide insights into human genetic evolution in Northeast Asia. Methods: We generated genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 46 Ewenki individuals in Inner Mongolia and merged them with public modern and ancient genomic datasets. Population structure and demographic history were reconstructed through Principal component analysis (PCA), model-based ADMIXTURE, fineSTRUCTURE haplotype clustering, f3/f4 statistics, and qpWave/qpAdm modeling to infer ancestry composition and admixture events. Results: The Ewenki occupy a genetically distinct position within Northeast Asia and show close genetic affinities with Chinese Mongolic, Tungusic-speaking, and ancient Northeast Asian populations. f3/f4 statistics revealed shared genetic drift and admixture signals linking the Ewenki to ancient Northeast Asian, Siberian, and Yellow River Basin-related populations. qpWave and qpAdm analyses further indicated that the Ewenki can be modeled primarily as a mixture of ancient Northeast Asian/Siberian-related ancestry and ancient Yellow River Basin farmer-related ancestry, reflecting long-term population interactions and admixture in Northeast Asia. Conclusion: The Ewenki share significant genetic similarities with Tungusic-speaking populations, mainly resulting from admixture between ancient Northeast Asian groups and Yellow River Basin farmers.