国立台湾大学所蔵のブヌン族人骨のミトコンドリアDNA分析  [in Japanese] MtDNA Analysis of Bunun Remains Stored in the National Taiwan University  [in Japanese]

歴史時代と現代の台湾原住民の関係について考察する目的で，国立台湾大学が所蔵する台湾原住民ブヌン族の古人骨試料からDNAを抽出し，ミトコンドリアDNAの分析を行った。合計で34体分の肋骨サンプルを実験に用い，最終的に25体で塩基配列データを得た。全体で15のハプロタイプを区別したが，特定のハプロタイプが多数を占めると言うことはなく，多様性が保たれていることが判明した。次にハプログループ頻度を用いて現代の原住民8集団との系統関係を解析した。その結果，今回のサンプルは現代のブヌン集団に最も近縁であることが示され，少なくともブヌン族では歴史時代からの遺伝的な特徴が，そのまま保存されていることが証明された。また各集団の遺伝的な関係は，基本的には地理的な近縁関係を反映していることも明らかとなった。今回の研究は，これらのサンプルに解析できる量のDNAが保存されていることを明らかにし，博物館・大学に収蔵されている人骨試料が，現在では収集が困難になりつつある原住民のDNAサンプルの供給源としても大きな価値があることを証明した。

The Bunun tribe is one of the aboriginal Taiwanese populations living in the central mountain area of Taiwan. In this study, we analyzed the sequence variability of hypervariable region I and II of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in order to investigate the relationships between modern and historical Bunun populations. mtDNA sequences were retrieved from 25 of 34 samples that were obtained from the historical Bunun skeletal remains stored in National Taiwan University. In combination with the mtDNA data of 8 extant Taiwan aboriginal populations, we carried out phylogenetic analysis based on haplogroup frequency data. The results show that the genetic structure of the historical Bunun population is a complex matriline and that these samples share the same haplogroup with the extant Bunun population. Analysis of the genetic composition of the aboriginal populations also reveals an important ethnic heterogeneity of the present aboriginal Taiwanese. Analysis of genetic distances based on haplogroup frequencies revealed 2 distinct clusters composed of northern and central mountain groups (Atayal, Saistat, and Bunun) and east coast and southern mountain groups (Paiwan, Rukai, Amis, and Yami). The mtDNA haplogroups in the Taiwan aboriginal populations were found to be different from those in the Chinese and Taiwan-Han population; therefore, these Taiwan aboriginal haplogroups might have stemmed from the gene pool of the initial late Pleistocene settlers. Genetic diversity among the aboriginal populations may be attributed to the prolonged isolation and random genetic drift after the single introduction of all mtDNA haplogroups into Taiwan. Our experiments also indicate the availability of the past skeletal remains for verifying the hypotheses formulated on the basis of genetic data derived from the present populations.