Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;59(9):494-503.
doi: 10.1038/jhg.2014.62. Epub 2014 Jul 31.

Isolation, contact and social behavior shaped genetic diversity in West Timor

Meryanne K Tumonggor  1 , Tatiana M Karafet  2 , Sean Downey  3 , J Stephen Lansing  4 , Peter Norquest  5 , Herawati Sudoyo  6 , Michael F Hammer  7 , Murray P Cox  8
Affiliations

Isolation, contact and social behavior shaped genetic diversity in West Timor

Meryanne K Tumonggor et al. J Hum Genet. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Timor, an eastern Indonesian island linking mainland Asia with Australia and the Pacific world, had a complex history, including its role as a contact zone between two language families (Austronesian and Trans-New Guinean), as well as preserving elements of a rich Austronesian cultural heritage, such as matrilocal marriage practices. Using an array of biparental (autosomal and X-chromosome single-nucleotide polymorphisms) and uniparental markers (Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA), we reconstruct a broad genetic profile of Timorese in the Belu regency of West Timor, including the traditional princedom of Wehali, focusing on the effects of cultural practices, such as language and social change, on patterns of genetic diversity. Sex-linked data highlight the different histories and social pressures experienced by women and men. Measures of diversity and population structure show that Timorese men had greater local mobility than women, as expected in matrilocal communities, where women remain in their natal village, whereas men move to the home village of their wife. Reaching further back in time, maternal loci (mitochondrial DNA and the X chromosome) are dominated by lineages with immigrant Asian origins, whereas paternal loci (Y chromosome) tend to exhibit lineages of the earliest settlers in the eastern Indonesian region. The dominance of Asian female lineages is especially apparent in the X chromosome compared with the autosomes, suggesting that women played a paramount role during and after the period of Asian immigration into Timor, perhaps driven by the matrilocal marriage practices of expanding Austronesian communities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of populations studied in West Timor: (1) Fatuketi, (2) Umaklaran, (3) Tialai, (4) Raimanawe, (5) Kamanasa, (6) Kateri, (7) Kakaniuk, (8) Laran, (9) Kletek (Kletek Rainan, Kletek Suai and Kletek Wefatuk), (10) Umanen Lawalu and (11) Besikama.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequencies of Y-chromosome haplogroup C-M38. Populations: (1) Fatuketi, (2) Umaklaran, (3) Tialai, (4) Raimanawe, (5) Kamanasa, (6) Kateri, (7) Kakaniuk, (8) Laran, (9) Kletek Rainan, (10) Kletek Suai, (11) Kletek Wefatuk, (12) Umanen Lawalu and (13) Besikama.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot of seven populations in West Timor based on Y-chromosome single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (STRs), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) SNPs, mtDNA hypervariable region I sequences, geography and language distances (a patrilocal village, Fatuketi, is shown as an open circle; the other villages are matrilocal).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Admixture plot produced by STRUCTURE. Putative parental populations, (1) Southern Han Chinese (green) and (4) Papua New Guinea Highlanders (red), are clearly shown as well differentiated ancestral groups. Populations in West Timor are presented as sets of (2) matrilocal and (3) patrilocal villages. Despite variation in ancestry components among individuals, little difference in admixture proportions is observed between communities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. O'Connor S. New evidence from East Timor contributes to our understanding of earliest modern human colonization east of the Sunda Shelf. Antiquity. 2007;81:523–535.
    1. Bellwood P. First Migrants: Ancient Migration in Global Perspective. Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK; 2013.
    1. Pawley A.Selected Papers from the Eighth International Conference on Austronesian Linguisticseds Zeitoun, E. & Li, P. J.-K.) 95–138.Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei; 1999
    1. Spriggs M. Chronology of the Neolithic transition in Island Southeast Asia and the western Pacific: a view from 2003. Rev. Archaeol. 2003;24:57–80.
    1. Bellwood P.Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian ArchipelagoRevised edn (University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu; 2007

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources