POLYNESIAN GENETIC AFFINITIES WITH SOUTHEAST-ASIAN POPULATIONS AS IDENTIFIED BY MTDNA ANALYSIS

Polynesian generic affinities to populations of Asia were studied usin g mtDNA markers. A total of 1,037 individuals from 12 populations were screened for a 9-bp deletion in the intergenic region between the COI I and tRNA(Lys) genes that approaches fixation in Polynesians. Sequenc e-specific oligonucleotide probes that identify specific mtDNA control region nucleotide substitutions were used to describe variation in in dividuals with the 9-bp deletion. The 9-bp deletion was not observed i n northern Indians, Bangladeshis, or Pakistanis but was seen at low to moderate frequencies in the nine other Southeast Asian populations. T hree substitutions in the control region at positions 16217, 16247, an d 16261 have previously been observed at high frequency in Polynesian mtDNAs; this ''Polynesian motif'' was observed in 20% of east Indonesi ans with the 9-bp deletion but was observed in only one additional ind ividual, mtDNA types related to the Polynesian motif are highest in fr equency in the corridor from Taiwan south through the Philippines and east Indonesia, and the highest diversity for these types is in Taiwan . These results are consistent with linguistic evidence of a Taiwanese origin for the proto-Polynesian expansion, which spread throughout Oc eania by way of Indonesia.