UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes

Key, FM; Fu, Q; Romagne, F; Lachmann, M; Andres, AM; (2016) Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes. Nature Communications , 7 , Article 10775. 10.1038/ncomms10775. Green open access

[thumbnail of Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes.pdf]
Preview
Text
Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes.pdf - Published Version

Download (817kB) | Preview

Abstract

The influence of positive selection sweeps in human evolution is increasingly debated, although our ability to detect them is hampered by inherent uncertainties in the timing of past events. Ancient genomes provide snapshots of allele frequencies in the past and can help address this question. We combine modern and ancient genomic data in a simple statistic (DAnc) to time allele frequency changes, and investigate the role of drift and adaptation in population differentiation. Only 30% of the most strongly differentiated alleles between Africans and Eurasians changed in frequency during the colonization of Eurasia, but in Europe these alleles are enriched in genic and putatively functional alleles to an extent only compatible with local adaptation. Adaptive alleles—especially those associated with pigmentation—are mostly of hunter-gatherer origin, although lactose persistence arose in a haplotype present in farmers. These results provide evidence for a role of local adaptation in human population differentiation.

Type: Article
Title: Human adaptation and population differentiation in the light of ancient genomes
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10775
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10775
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, RECENT POSITIVE SELECTION, NATURAL-SELECTION, POLYGENIC ADAPTATION, GENETIC-VARIATION, MUTATION-RATE, EYE COLOR, PIGMENTATION, EUROPE, SEQUENCE, FARMERS
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10051308
Downloads since deposit
69Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item