Crossing the Sea: ancient and modern human genomes to study the evolutionary dynamics of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.

Abstract:

The Mediterranean Sea played a crucial role in human migration processes during the principal phases and cultural changes associated with the peopling of the European continent. Despite several studies focused on ancient and modern samples from human groups distributed along the Italian Peninsula, the contribution of population dynamics having involved the main islands of the Mediterranean Sea remains largely unknown, principally due to the paucity of paleogenomic data. Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica are characterized by a variety of archaeological records, material culture and traditions, and represented an historical meeting place for several populations since their first colonization. In this context, the analysis of modern and ancient whole genome data may provide fundamental evidence to disentangle past population processes, identify historical genetic structure, and highlight historical/genetic relationship with surrounding populations, that would allow us to significantly improve the knowledge about our past.
This multidisciplinary research program -involving archaeologists, anthropologists, paleoanthropologists and population geneticists- aims to shed light on colonization processes and evolutionary dynamics of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica through the analysis of ancient and modern genomes. The project feasibility would benefit from recent advances both in ancient DNA sequencing technologies and in the development of sophisticated population genetics methods of analysis of complete genomes data. Archaeologists and anthropologists will accurately select at least 300 human bone samples, spanning from Late Paleolithic to Medieval times, that will be radiocarbon dated and analysed to obtain the first ancient complete genome sequences for these islands. We plan to obtain 60 ancient genomes, from individuals covering a wide temporal scale and a variety of cultural groups. Ancient variation will be compared with 65 new complete genomes from modern inhabitants of the same geographical area, and with data already available for the mainland Italy and Mediterranean Europe. Complete ancient genomes will allow us to reconstruct the genomic history of the islands, since their first colonization, through explicitly hypotheses testing and model-based methods. The same analyses will be separately conducted for Y chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA, so as to identify gender-specific processes. We will also explore the genetic determinants of local biological adaptations (to climate, diseases, diet, or cultural practices) evolved by the ancestors of modern populations currently inhabiting Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica.
The outcomes of this project will provide unprecedented insights into the origin, the evolution, the genetic relationship and adaptation dynamics of the populations dwelling in such peculiar areas in the last 20,000 years and will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the peopling and evolutionary dynamics of Southern Europe