Source: Ancient genomic profile of the Shatuo Turkic leader Li Keyong - ScienceDirect
“Integrating these genomic, uniparental, and phenotypic lines of evidence allows us to reconstruct the formation history of the Shatuo elite. A key insight comes from the apparent decoupling of Li Keyong's paternal and autosomal Western signals. While his Y - chromosome is classified within haplogroup R1a - Z93, which is a characteristic feature of the MLBA Sintashta/Andronovo expansions, his autosomal Western ancestry maintains a substantial affinity with the EBA Afanasievo profile, which is characterized by low EEF admixture. This suggests a multi-layered admixture history: R1a-Z93-carrying paternal elites (derived from the MLBA horizon) likely integrated into a local Inner Asian population that had retained an EBA-like genetic profile, long before the final admixture with Northeast Asians.”
Li Keyong is the leader of the Shatuo people and the father of the founder of the Later Tang Dynasty