Virologic and genetic studies relate Amerind origins to the indigenous people of the Mongolia/Manchuria/southeastern Siberia region.

A commonly held theory is that the first wave of migrants into the New World was derivative from the ethnic groups then inhibiting eastern Siberia. However, these ethnic groups lack a mtDNA haplogroup (B) that is well represented in Amerindian tribes. Also, the time depth of the other three mtDNA haplogroups found in Amerindians (A, C, and D) appears to be greater in the Amerindians than in the eastern Siberian ethnic groups. In this communication we demonstrate that the human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type II, present in 11 of the 38 Amerindian tribes thus far examined, is not present in any of the 10 ethnic groups of eastern Siberia that we have studied. However, the virus has just been reported in the indigenous population of Mongolia, and mtDNA haplogroup B is also represented in this region. On the basis of these facts, we propose that the ancestors of the first migrants to the New World were not derived from north and central Siberia but from populations to the south, inhabiting the regions of Mongolia, Manchuria, and/or the extreme southeastern tip of Siberia. IMAGES: