The Genographic Project has two parts: the public participation project (where members of the public purchase a testing kit to determine their own ancestry), and field research of indigenous populations worldwide. The field research is being carried out by 12 Regional Centers.

The Oceania Regional Center, to which I belong, is headed by Lisa Matisoo-Smith and is based at the University of Auckland. The Oceania Regional Center is responsible for, in consultation with local communities, collecting and analysing DNA samples from Oceanic regions including Island Melanesia and Polynesia.

So far we have obtained DNA samples from people living on the tiny island of Emirau off the coast of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. Emirau is interesting because it is the location of the earliest Lapita site at about 3,500 yr BP (years before present). The Lapita cultural complex is important in Pacific prehistory because it is associated with the expansion of human populations into Remote Oceania (regions east of the Solomon Islands) about 3,100 yr BP. Analysis of people from Emirau will help answer questions such as: Where did the Lapita peoples originate? Were they the biological ancestors of the Polynesians? What were the biological relationships between Lapita peoples and populations now living in Micronesia?

Lisa Matisoo-Smith explaining the consent and sampling protocols on Emirau Island (April 2009).

Further expeditions are planned for Tokelau and French Polynesia, and analyses of populations from these locations will tell us more about movements within Polynesia.

The Genographic Project is examining solely mitochondrial (maternally inherited) and Y chromosome (paternally inherited) DNA markers. To obtain the highest resolution data possible for Oceanic populations, we plan to sequence complete mitochondrial genomes for most, if not all, individuals. This will be achieved using next-generation sequencing technologies such as Solexa, 454 and/or SOLiD.

We are also working closely with the Australasian Regional Center, headed by John Mitchell and based at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. The Australasian Regional Center is responsible for collecting and analysing samples from Aboriginal Australian and Māori populations. For Māori, some of the questions being asked are: How many migrations were there? From how many different locations did migrants come? What have been the movements within New Zealand? Integration of the genetic data with Māori oral history will be an important part of the research.

People

Lisa Matisoo-Smith — University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
John Mitchell — La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
The Genographic Consortium

	‘Owairaka Red’, the most popular sweet potato cultivar in New Zealand, is probably derived from a mid-19th century introduction by whalers.

Linguistic evidence suggests a human-mediated, pre-European introduction of the sweet potato from South America into the Pacific (the word kumara is used by both Quechua speakers in South America, and by Polynesians). Archaeological and biological evidence is also consistent with this scenario. The introduction of sweet potato to the Pacific was most likely effected by Polynesian voyagers who sailed to the west coast of South America, collected the sweet potato and brought it back to Eastern Polynesia. From there it was carried east, north (to Hawai‘i) and south-west (to New Zealand).

Part of the pot-maintained Yen Sweet Potato Collection in Tsukuba, Japan (June 2004).

DNA fingerprinting techniques have been used to analyse several hundred sweet potato accessions. These data are now being applied to test specific hypotheses about: where on the South American coast Polynesians made contact, the number of lineages introduced into Polynesia, the origin of the sweet potato in western Oceania and the influence of European-era introductions on the modern diversity. The movement of sweet potato in the Pacific is a good proxy for patterns of human migration and mobility in Oceania, and we expect our findings to have implications in these areas.

People

David Penny — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Barbara Holland — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Roger Green — University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Makoto Nakatani — National Institute of Crop Science, Tsukuba, Japan
David Tay — International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru
Lisa Matisoo-Smith — University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Steve Lewthwaite — Plant & Food Research, Pukekohe, New Zealand
Richard Scaglion — University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
María Auxiliadora Cordero — University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Peter Matthews — National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan

Pai Kanohi with tahā huahua bottle gourd containers for preserving kererū (wood pigeons), Ruatahuna, New Zealand, 1903.

	Bottle gourd carved with modern Māori design.

For both these areas, we are carrying out molecular (DNA) analysis on a range of modern, ethnographic and ancient (archaeological) material. Ethnographic and archaeological material is being analysed in the University of Otago Ancient DNA Laboratory.

We already have a number of SCAR (sequence characterised amplified region) and cpDNA chloroplast markers for bottle gourd, but current research is focussed on using next-generation sequencing technologies (454, Solexa, etc.) for marker development.

Molecular data are being integrated with existing archaeological, linguistic and morphological data where appropriate.

People

David Penny — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Roger Green — University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Dave Erickson — National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States
Mike Burtenshaw — Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Lisa Matisoo-Smith — University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

1.	Development of SCAR markers. I have been working on methods for improving the efficiency of sequence characterised amplified (SCAR) marker development, including using thermal asymmetric interlaced (TAIL) PCR for capturing polymorphisms in regions flanking SCAR markers.
2.	Scoring of AFLP data. I am interested in improving methods for the automated scoring of AFLP data. This includes adjusting scoring parameters to maximise the size and quality of the binary matrix. I am also working on software for easily re-formatting AFLP data. Optimising AFLP scoring parameters can significantly increase phylogenetic resolution. This consensus network of 30 taxa shows how optimisation of scoring increased the number of internal edges with > 50% bootstrap from 14 to 25, out of a possible maximum of 27 (new edges shown as dashed red lines). See Holland et al. (2008) for more information.
3.	Development of markers using next-generation sequencing technologies. Over the next few months I hope to start using next-generation sequencing technologies as a tool to obtain molecular markers for use at the species level. Strategies might include whole genome sequencing to obtain microsatellite markers, and combining techniques like AFLP with the Solexa or 454 platforms.

People

Jing Wang — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Barbara Holland — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Heidi Meudt — Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand

We are determining levels of genetic diversity in populations of plants at Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park near Hamilton (an artificially revegetated site) and at a number of natural (wild) populations around the Waikato. Using ecosourced (locally sourced) plants for restoration projects is generally encouraged because the plants possess local alleles and are locally adapted. But using plants with too little genetic diversity can lead to a reduction in heterozygosity and inbreeding depression. To determine the extent to which an ecosourced population captures levels of genetic diversity observed in the wild we are using three species: kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), māhoe (Melicytus ramiflorus) and mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium).

People

Chrissen Gemmill — University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Mark Stevens — South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia

Paper mulberry is native to Japan and Taiwan, and its initial dispersal into the Pacific is thought to be associated with the Austronesian expansion. In Polynesia, the bark of paper mulberry was (and is) used to make the famous tapa cloth (shown at left). Paper mulberry was dispersed as far as Hawai‘i, Easter Island and New Zealand in the pre-European era.

Using DNA fingerprinting techniques we are reconstructing the dispersal of paper mulberry across the Pacific. Dispersal patterns of paper mulberry should mirror patterns of human migration and mobility (trade/interaction) in the Pacific.

For information on the Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano’s research on Chilean Islands (including Easter Island/Rapa Nui) click here (in Spanish).

People

Andrea Seelenfreund — Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Santiago, Chile
Daniela Seelenfreund — Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Sergio Lobos — Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Lisa Matisoo-Smith — University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Naria Oyanedel Giaverini — Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

	A Japanese variety of taro growing at Albany, New Zealand. Photo credit: Robin Atherton

There are two aspects to this research: first, using DNA data to reconstruct the origins and dispersal of taro in South East Asia and Oceania; second, to test hypotheses of microevolution by examining DNA sequence repeat motifs.

People

Mike Hendy — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Ibrar Ahmed — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Atheer Matroud — Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Peter Matthews — National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan