Modern Tibetans formed from Ancient Tibetan Highlanders (also known as "East Asian Highlanders") native to the Tibetan Plateau and a region up to the southern Altai Mountains, and from East Asian lowland farmers expanding from the Yellow River. Although "East Asian Highlanders" (associated with haplogroup D1) are closely related to East Asian lowland farmers (associated with haplogroup O), they from a divergent sister branch to them. A 2019 study by Wang et al., published in the journal Nature, similarly concluded that modern Tibetans (and closely related Tibeto-Burmese) formed from "East Asian Highlanders" and agriculturalists from the Yellow river. They further found evidence for geneflow from this ancient "East Asian Highlanders" into some populations in Southeast Asia and Japan. By comparing Tibetans to modern worldwide populations it was found that Tibetans are very closely related to other East Asians, especially Chinese and Japanese respectively. Geneflow from Tibetan-like ancestry into West Asia and Northeastern Africa was also found, however this may be caused by relative small sample size from these regions.