On the persistence and detectability of ancient Beothuk mitochondrial DNA genomes in living First Nations peoples

Abstract

Claims have long been made as to the survival to the present day of descendants of the Newfoundland Beothuk, a group generally accepted to have become extinct with the death of the last known member, Shanawdithit, in 1829. Interest has recently been revived by the availability of commercial genetic testing, which some claim can assign living individuals to specific Native American groups. We compare complete mitogenome sequences (16569 bp) from aDNA of eight distinct Beothuk lineages, including Shanawdithit’s uncle Nonosabasut and his wife Demasduit, with three Newfoundland Mi’kmaq lineages and 21 other living Native Americans drawn from GenBank. A Newfoundland Mi’kmaq lineage in Haplogroup A is more similar to three Native Americans (1–3 SNPs) than to the most closely related Beothuk (24 SNPs). Nonosabasut in Haplogroup X is identical to a non-Beothuk Native American. Demasduit in Haplogroup C differs from three other Native Americans by 1–4 substitutions. Within a 2168 bp region of the HVS sequences available from living Mi’kmaq of the Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland, lineages in Haplogroups C, X, and A differ by 1, 4, and 8 substitutions, from the most similar Beothuk, and are more similar to other Native Americans. MtDNA genome sequences in living persons identical or similar to those of Beothuk do not necessarily indicate Beothuk ancestry. Mi’kmaq lineages cannot at this time be associated with any Beothuk lineages more closely than those of other Native Americans.

Keywords:

• Mi’kmaq
• Beothuk
• Norse
• Haplogroups A
• C and X
• ancient DNA

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Expression of Concern

Acknowledgements

DNA sequence data from members of the Miawpukek First Nation at Baie d’Espoir, Newfoundland, were collected as part of the BSc (honours) thesis of AA Collier (Collier 2010). We thank AT Duggan for providing her Beothuk data in compiled format. We thank M Cronin for constructive comments on a previous draft on this MS. We are pleased to acknowledge the cooperation, participation, support, and approval of Saqamaw Misel Joe and his council, and members of Miawpukek Mi’kamawey Mawei’omi.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.