Cebú, Thailand and Taiwanese aboriginal populations according to Y-STR loci.

Here we report for the first time the Y27-STR Yfiler plus profiles of the insular population of Cebú in the central region of the Philippine Archipelago and the general continental population of Thailand, two strategic locations of interest in connection with the Austronesian expansion. Traditionally, the peopling of Taiwan has been envisioned as a single wave of agriculturists migrating from mainland Southeast Asia. Yet, more recent data support a scenario in which a number of migrations from the continent populated the island. Genetic affinity parameters from this study indicate that certain Formosan tribes are genetically closer to geographical distant populations in the Solomon Island than to other nearby Taiwanese tribes. Furthermore, Taiwanese aboriginal populations in this study partition into three clusters, one associated with populations from the Philippines and Thailand, a second one segregating with populations of the Solomon Islands and a third grouping made up exclusively of Taiwanese aboriginal tribes. The populations within each of these three clusters exhibit different degrees of differentiation among them suggesting unique population histories. All together, these differential genetic affinities of specific Taiwanese tribes to groups from different geographical regions and to each other are compatible with multiple origins of the Austronesian expansion from Formosa as well as from mainland Southeast Asia.