# Kanazawa team reconstructs high-coverage Jomon and Yayoi genomes from Japan

_Friday, August 7, 2026 at 11:40 AM EDT · Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![Kanazawa team reconstructs high-coverage Jomon and Yayoi genomes from Japan — Primary](https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/2026/high-coverage-ancient.jpg)

A Kanazawa University-led team reconstructed high-coverage genomes from two ancient people in Japan and reports the results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, phys.org reported.

IY1, a woman from the Initial Jomon period about 8,300 years ago, yielded roughly 67-fold genome-wide coverage. DO, a man from the Middle Yayoi period about 2,300 years ago, reached about 46-fold coverage despite poor DNA preservation in warm, humid, acidic soils.

IY1 clustered with other Jomon individuals, supporting an early-diverging Jomon-related lineage in present-day Japanese ancestry. DO was closer to present-day mainland Japanese and carried Northeast Asia-linked components; mixture models pointed to continental proxies including Amur River, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong-related groups.

Demographic analyses suggested ancestral declines around the Last Glacial Maximum, later growth in the Yayoi-related lineage, and relatively stable Jomon-related size. Both individuals carried relatively high amylase gene copy numbers, indicating starch-related genetic diversity before large-scale agriculture. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2606162123.

## Sources

- [phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-08-high-coverage-ancient-genomes-reveal.html)

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