Linda Ongaro
(Foto: Jüri Parik)
Linda Ongaro
(Foto: Jüri Parik)

Linda Ongaro defended her PhD thesis

Linda Ongaro defended her doctoral thesis in Gene Technology entitled "A genomic portrait of American populations" on August 31 at 11:15.

The location of the event was Riia 23b/2 auditorium 105 and the event could also be followed online in Zoom.

Linda Ongaro has completed the curriculum of Doctoral Studies in Gene Technology and her thesis is available in DSpace.

Supervisors: Researcher Francesco Montinaro, Visiting Professor Luca Pagani and Professor Mait Metspalu (all Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu) 
Opponent: Dr Cesar Fortes Lima, Uppsala University, Sweden

Thesis summary:

Although the Americas were the last continents to be reached by humans, the processes shaping their genetic variation have been highly complex, and their studies have been the topic of many genetic surveys for more than three decades. Thanks to archaeological and genetic evidence, it is now accepted that the first people arriving in North America came from Siberia, passing through Beringia after late Glacial times. Initial settlements were followed by widespread people movements that reached southern South America relatively fast, as early as ~15 thousand years ago. The study of uniparental systems and autosomal markers has been crucial to reconstructing American populations' genetic history. Several recent studies have provided new information about this subject, reconstructing the genomic history of indigenous groups from different Americas regions. However, key areas such as the Isthmo-Colombian are still missing. Together with the first migrations, American populations can be seen as a mosaic shaped by several population movements and subsequent admixture events since the colonial era and the Atlantic slave trade. Moreover, many waves of migration followed by local admixture occurred in the last two centuries and are still happening, but their impact has been largely unexplored.
Therefore, the three studies included in this dissertation shared the genomic history of American populations as a primary topic. The first two shed light on the migrations that led to the American continents' first peopling and subsequent population movements. In detail, the first one provides an in-depth phylogenetic and phylogeographic analysis of the Pan-American Y chromosome haplogroup Q. The second one employed both ancient and modern DNA to reconstruct the genomic history of the Isthmo-Colombian area. The third reference focuses on investigating how more recent migrations shaped the genomic background of admixed American populations.

 

Organizer:

Lilian Kadaja-Saarepuu
scientific secretary
lilian.kadaja@ut.ee