Y-chromosome evidence for no independent origin of modern human in China

East Asia is one of the few regions in the world where a large number of human fossils have been unearthed. The continuity of hominid fossils in East Asia, particularly in China has been presented as strong evidence supporting an independent origin of modern humans in this area. To search for such evidence of a possible independent origin of modern humans in China, a total of 9988 male individuals were sampled across China. Three Y-chromosome biallelic markers (M89, M130 and YAP), which were located at the non-recombinant region of Y-chromosome, were typed among the samples. Our result showed that all the individuals carry a mutation at one of the three loci. The three mutations (M89T, M130T, YAP⁺) coalesce to another mutation (M168T), which was originally derived from Africa about 31000 to 79000 years ago. In other words, all Y-chromosome samples from China, with no exception, were originally derived from a lineage of African origin. Hence, we conclude that even a very minor contribution ofin situ hominid origin in China cannot be supported by the Y-chromosome evidence.