It is now widely agreed that the Native American founders originated from a Beringian source population ∼15–18 thousand years ago (kya) and rapidly populated all of the New World, probably mainly following the Pacific coastal route. However, details about the migration into the Americas and the routes pursued on the continent still remain unresolved, despite numerous genetic, archaeological, and linguistic investigations. To examine the pioneering peopling phase of the South American continent, we screened literature and mtDNA databases and identified two novel mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clades, here named D1g and D1j, within the pan-American haplogroup D1. They both show overall rare occurrences but local high frequencies, and are essentially restricted to populations from the Southern Cone of South America (Chile and Argentina). We selected and completely sequenced 43 D1g and D1j mtDNA genomes applying highest quality standards. Molecular and phylogeographic analyses revealed extensive variation within each of the two clades and possibly distinct dispersal patterns. Their age estimates agree with the dating of the earliest archaeological sites in South America and indicate that the Paleo-Indian spread along the entire longitude of the American double continent might have taken even <2000 yr. This study confirms that major sampling and sequencing efforts are mandatory for uncovering all of the most basal variation in the Native American mtDNA haplogroups and for clarification of Paleo-Indian migrations, by targeting, if possible, both the general mixed population of national states and autochthonous Native American groups, especially in South America.

Pan-American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup C1 has been recently subdivided into three branches, two of which (C1b and C1c) are characterized by ages and geographical distributions that are indicative of an early arrival from Beringia with Paleo-Indians. In contrast, the estimated ages of C1d-the third subset of C1-looked too young to fit the above scenario. To define the origin of this enigmatic C1 branch, we completely sequenced 63 C1d mitochondrial genomes from a wide range of geographically diverse, mixed, and indigenous American populations. The revised phylogeny not only brings the age of C1d within the range of that of its two sister clades, but reveals that there were two C1d founder genomes for Paleo-Indians. Thus, the recognized maternal founding lineages of Native Americans are at least 15, indicating that the overall number of Beringian or Asian founder mitochondrial genomes will probably increase extensively when all Native American haplogroups reach the same level of phylogenetic and genomic resolution as obtained here for C1d.

Though investigations into the use of massively parallel sequencing technologies for the generation of complete mitochondrial genome (mtGenome) profiles from difficult forensic specimens are well underway in multiple laboratories, the high quality population reference data necessary to support full mtGenome typing in the forensic context are lacking. To address this deficiency, we have developed 588 complete mtGenome haplotypes, spanning three U.S. population groups (African American, Caucasian and Hispanic) from anonymized, randomly-sampled specimens. Data production utilized an 8-amplicon, 135 sequencing reaction Sanger-based protocol, performed in semi-automated fashion on robotic instrumentation. Data review followed an intensive multi-step strategy that included a minimum of three independent reviews of the raw data at two laboratories; repeat screenings of all insertions, deletions, heteroplasmies, transversions and any additional private mutations; and a check for phylogenetic feasibility. For all three populations, nearly complete resolution of the haplotypes was achieved with full mtGenome sequences: 90.3-98.8% of haplotypes were unique per population, an improvement of 7.7-29.2% over control region sequencing alone, and zero haplotypes overlapped between populations. Inferred maternal biogeographic ancestry frequencies for each population and heteroplasmy rates in the control region were generally consistent with published datasets. In the coding region, nearly 90% of individuals exhibited length heteroplasmy in the 12418-12425 adenine homopolymer; and despite a relatively high rate of point heteroplasmy (23.8% of individuals across the entire molecule), coding region point heteroplasmies shared by more than one individual were notably absent, and transversion-type heteroplasmies were extremely rare. The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous changes among point heteroplasmies in the protein-coding genes (1:1.3) and average pathogenicity scores in comparison to data reported for complete substitutions in previous studies seem to provide some additional support for the role of purifying selection in the evolution of the human mtGenome. Overall, these thoroughly vetted full mtGenome population reference data can serve as a standard against which the quality and features of future mtGenome datasets (especially those developed via massively parallel sequencing) may be evaluated, and will provide a solid foundation for the generation of complete mtGenome haplotype frequency estimates for forensic applications.

Insights into the human mitochondrial phylogeny have been primarily achieved by sequencing full mitochondrial genomes (mtGenomes). In forensic genetics (partial) mtGenome information can be used to assign haplotypes to their phylogenetic backgrounds, which may, in turn, have characteristic geographic distributions that would offer useful information in a forensic case. In addition and perhaps even more relevant in the forensic context, haplogroup-specific patterns of mutations form the basis for quality control of mtDNA sequences. The current method for establishing (partial) mtDNA haplotypes is Sanger-type sequencing (STS), which is laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. With the emergence of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, the body of available mtDNA data can potentially be extended much more quickly and cost-efficiently. Customized chemistries, laboratory workflows and data analysis packages could support the community and increase the utility of mtDNA analysis in forensics. We have evaluated the performance of mtGenome sequencing using the Personal Genome Machine (PGM) and compared the resulting haplotypes directly with conventional Sanger-type sequencing. A total of 64 mtGenomes (>1 million bases) were established that yielded high concordance with the corresponding STS haplotypes (<0.02% differences). About two-thirds of the differences were observed in or around homopolymeric sequence stretches. In addition, the sequence alignment algorithm employed to align NGS reads played a significant role in the analysis of the data and the resulting mtDNA haplotypes. Further development of alignment software would be desirable to facilitate the application of NGS in mtDNA forensic genetics.

Background: It has been demonstrated that a reliable and fail-safe sequencing strategy is mandatory for high-quality analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA, as the sequencing and base-calling process is prone to error. Here, we present a high quality, reliable and easy handling manual procedure for the sequencing of full mt genomes that is also appropriate for laboratories where fully automated processes are not available.