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Oliveira S, Fehn AM, Amorim B, Stoneking M, Rocha J. Genome-wide variation in the Angolan Namib Desert reveals unique pre-Bantu ancestry. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadh3822. [PMID: 37738339 PMCID: PMC10516492 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh3822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Ancient DNA studies reveal the genetic structure of Africa before the expansion of Bantu-speaking agriculturalists; however, the impact of now extinct hunter-gatherer and herder societies on the genetic makeup of present-day African groups remains elusive. Here, we uncover the genetic legacy of pre-Bantu populations from the Angolan Namib Desert, where we located small-scale groups associated with enigmatic forager traditions, as well as the last speakers of the Khoe-Kwadi family's Kwadi branch. By applying an ancestry decomposition approach to genome-wide data from these and other African populations, we reconstructed the fine-scale histories of contact emerging from the migration of Khoe-Kwadi-speaking pastoralists and identified a deeply divergent ancestry, which is exclusively shared between groups from the Angolan Namib and adjacent areas of Namibia. The unique genetic heritage of the Namib peoples shows how modern DNA research targeting understudied regions of high ethnolinguistic diversity can complement ancient DNA studies in probing the deep genetic structure of the African continent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Oliveira
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Computational and Molecular Population Genetics, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Anne-Maria Fehn
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Beatriz Amorim
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
| | - Mark Stoneking
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, UMR 5558 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Jorge Rocha
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
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Araújo V, Fehn AM, Phiri A, Wills J, Rocha J, Gayà-Vidal M. Oral microbiome homogeneity across diverse human groups from southern Africa: first results from southwestern Angola and Zimbabwe. BMC Microbiol 2023; 23:226. [PMID: 37596536 PMCID: PMC10436416 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-02970-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND While the human oral microbiome is known to play an important role in systemic health, its average composition and diversity patterns are still poorly understood. To gain better insights into the general composition of the microbiome on a global scale, the characterization of microbiomes from a broad range of populations, including non-industrialized societies, is needed. Here, we used the portion of non-human reads obtained through an expanded exome capture sequencing approach to characterize the saliva microbiomes of 52 individuals from eight ethnolinguistically diverse southern African populations from Angola (Kuvale, Kwepe, Himba, Tjimba, Kwisi, Twa, !Xun) and Zimbabwe (Tshwa), including foragers, food-producers, and peripatetic groups (low-status communities who provide services to their dominant neighbors). RESULTS Our results indicate that neither host genetics nor livelihood seem to influence the oral microbiome profile, with Neisseria, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Rothia, and Porphyromonas being the five most frequent genera in southern African groups, in line with what has been shown for other human populations. However, we found that some Tshwa and Twa individuals display an enrichment of pathogenic genera from the Enterobacteriaceae family (i.e. Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Salmonella) of the Proteobacteria phylum, probably reflecting deficient sanitation and poor health conditions associated with social marginalization. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our results suggest that socio-economic status, rather than ethnolinguistic affiliation or subsistence mode, is a key factor in shaping the salivary microbial profiles of human populations in southern Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vítor Araújo
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, BIOPOLIS, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Anne-Maria Fehn
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, BIOPOLIS, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
| | - Admire Phiri
- Department of Linguistics and Language Practice, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | | | - Jorge Rocha
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, BIOPOLIS, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Magdalena Gayà-Vidal
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal.
- Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, BIOPOLIS, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, 4485-661, Portugal.
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Choudhury A, Sengupta D, Ramsay M, Schlebusch C. Bantu-speaker migration and admixture in southern Africa. Hum Mol Genet 2021; 30:R56-R63. [PMID: 33367711 PMCID: PMC8117461 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Revised: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The presence of Early and Middle Stone Age human remains and associated archeological artifacts from various sites scattered across southern Africa, suggests this geographic region to be one of the first abodes of anatomically modern humans. Although the presence of hunter-gatherer cultures in this region dates back to deep times, the peopling of southern Africa has largely been reshaped by three major sets of migrations over the last 2000 years. These migrations have led to a confluence of four distinct ancestries (San hunter-gatherer, East-African pastoralist, Bantu-speaker farmer and Eurasian) in populations from this region. In this review, we have summarized the recent insights into the refinement of timelines and routes of the migration of Bantu-speaking populations to southern Africa and their admixture with resident southern African Khoe-San populations. We highlight two recent studies providing evidence for the emergence of fine-scale population structure within some South-Eastern Bantu-speaker groups. We also accentuate whole genome sequencing studies (current and ancient) that have both enhanced our understanding of the peopling of southern Africa and demonstrated a huge potential for novel variant discovery in populations from this region. Finally, we identify some of the major gaps and inconsistencies in our understanding and emphasize the importance of more systematic studies of southern African populations from diverse ethnolinguistic groups and geographic locations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ananyo Choudhury
- Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
| | - Dhriti Sengupta
- Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
| | - Michele Ramsay
- Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
| | - Carina Schlebusch
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18C, SE-752 36 Uppsala 75326, Sweden
- SciLifeLab, Uppsala 75237, Sweden
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Searching for the roots of the first free African American community. Sci Rep 2020; 10:20634. [PMID: 33244039 PMCID: PMC7691995 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77608-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
San Basilio de Palenque is an Afro-descendant community near Cartagena, Colombia, founded in the sixteenth century. The recognition of the historical and cultural importance of Palenque has promoted several studies, namely concerning the African roots of its first inhabitants. To deepen the knowledge of the origin and diversity of the Palenque parental lineages, we analysed a sample of 81 individuals for the entire mtDNA Control Region as well as 92 individuals for 27 Y-STRs and 95 for 51 Y-SNPs. The results confirmed the strong isolation of the Palenque, with some degree of influx of Native American maternal lineages, and a European admixture exclusively mediated by men. Due to the high genetic drift observed, a pairwise FST analysis with available data on African populations proved to be inadequate for determining population affinities. In contrast, when a phylogenetic approach was used, it was possible to infer the phylogeographic origin of some lineages in Palenque. Contradicting previous studies indicating a single African origin, our results evidence parental genetic contributions from widely different African regions.
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Pakendorf B, Stoneking M. The genomic prehistory of peoples speaking Khoisan languages. Hum Mol Genet 2020; 30:R49-R55. [PMID: 33075813 PMCID: PMC8117426 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Revised: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Peoples speaking so-called Khoisan languages-that is, indigenous languages of southern Africa that do not belong to the Bantu family-are culturally and linguistically diverse. They comprise herders, hunter-gatherers as well as groups of mixed modes of subsistence, and their languages are classified into three distinct language families. This cultural and linguistic variation is mirrored by extensive genetic diversity. We here review the recent genomics literature and discuss the genetic evidence for a formerly wider geographic spread of peoples with Khoisan-related ancestry, for the deep divergence among populations speaking Khoisan languages overlaid by more recent gene flow among these groups and for the impact of admixture with immigrant food-producers in their prehistory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Pakendorf
- Dynamique du Langage, UMR5596, CNRS & Université de Lyon, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Mark Stoneking
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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The paternal and maternal genetic history of Vietnamese populations. Eur J Hum Genet 2019; 28:636-645. [PMID: 31827276 PMCID: PMC7171127 DOI: 10.1038/s41431-019-0557-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Revised: 10/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Vietnam exhibits great cultural and linguistic diversity, yet the genetic history of Vietnamese populations remains poorly understood. Previous studies focused mostly on the majority Kinh group, and thus the genetic diversity of the many other groups has not yet been investigated. Here we analyze complete mtDNA genome sequences and ~2.3 Mb sequences of the male-specific portion of the Y chromosome from the Kinh and 16 minority populations, encompassing all five language families present in Vietnam. We find highly variable levels of diversity within and between groups that do not correlate with either geography or language family. In particular, the Mang and Sila have undergone recent, independent bottlenecks, while the majority group, Kinh, exhibits low levels of differentiation with other groups. The two Austronesian-speaking groups, Giarai and Ede, show a potential impact of matrilocality on their patterns of variation. Overall, we find that isolation, coupled with limited contact involving some groups, has been the major factor influencing the genetic structure of Vietnamese populations, and that there is substantial genetic diversity that is not represented by the Kinh.
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Thami PK, Chimusa ER. Population Structure and Implications on the Genetic Architecture of HIV-1 Phenotypes Within Southern Africa. Front Genet 2019; 10:905. [PMID: 31611910 PMCID: PMC6777512 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The interesting history of Southern Africa has put the region in the spotlight for population medical genetics. Major events including the Bantu expansion and European colonialism have imprinted unique genetic signatures within autochthonous populations of Southern Africa, this resulting in differential allele frequencies across the region. This genetic structure has potential implications on susceptibility and resistance to infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Southern Africa is the region affected worst by HIV. Here, we discuss advances made in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of HIV-1 in the past 12 years and dissect population diversity within Southern Africa. Our findings accentuate that a plethora of factors such as migration, language and culture, admixture, and natural selection have profiled the genetics of the people of Southern Africa. Genetic structure has been observed among the Khoe-San, among Bantu speakers, and between the Khoe-San, Coloureds, and Bantu speakers. Moreover, Southern African populations have complex admixture scenarios. Few GWAS of HIV-1 have been conducted in Southern Africa, with only one of these identifying two novel variants (HCG22rs2535307 and CCNG1kgp22385164) significantly associated with HIV-1 acquisition and progression. High genetic diversity, multi-wave genetic mixture and low linkage disequilibrium of Southern African populations constitute a challenge in identifying genetic variants with modest risk or protective effect against HIV-1. We therefore posit that it is compelling to assess genome-wide contribution of ancestry to HIV-1 infection. We further suggest robust methods that can pin-point population-specific variants that may contribute to the control of HIV-1 in Southern Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prisca K Thami
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pathology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.,Research Laboratory, Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Emile R Chimusa
- Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pathology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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