The native peoples of Gorno Altai in southern Siberia represent a genetically diverse population and have been of great interest to anthropological genetics. In particular, the southern Altaian population is argued to be the best candidate for the New World ancestral population.
All the major Native American haplogroups (haplogroup A, haplogroup B, haplogroup C, and haplogroup D) were identified in the Mendur-Sokkon sample, including a single individual belonging to haplogroup X.
The most common mtDNA lineages are haplogroup C (35.7%) and haplogroup D (13.3%), which is consistent with the haplogroup profiles of neighboring Siberian groups.
References
Phillips-Krawczak C, Devor E, Zlojutro M, Moffat-Wilson K, Crawford MH. MtDNA variation in the Altai-Kizhi population of southern Siberia: a synthesis of genetic variation. Hum Biol. 2006 Aug;78(4):477-94. PMID: 17278622