1
|
Kleisner K, Pokorný Š, Černý V. Sexually dimorphic traits are associated with subsistence strategy in African faces from the Sahel/Savannah belt. Am J Hum Biol 2024; 36:e24008. [PMID: 37897188 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 09/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Previous research revealed that in some African populations, food-production strategies are associated with facial shape. Nomadic pastoralists living in the African Sahel/Savannah belt have a different facial morphology than their sedentary neighbors. We investigated whether the lifestyle associated with a subsistence pattern has an impact on sexual dimorphism in the facial structure. METHODS We employed several methods from geometric morphometrics and demonstrated such effect in four ethnically distinct populations that share the same geographic space. RESULTS We show that the facial traits which correlate with a subsistence strategy are systematically associated with levels of facial sex-typicality. In particular, we found that faces with more pronounced pastoralist features have on average more masculine facial traits and that this effect is more pronounced in men than in women. CONCLUSIONS In general, though, the magnitude of overall facial dimorphism does not differ between pastoralists and farmers. Pastoralists (in contrast to farmers) tend to have a more masculine facial morphology but facial differences between the sexes are in both groups the same.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karel Kleisner
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Šimon Pokorný
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Viktor Černý
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
D'Atanasio E, Risi F, Ravasini F, Montinaro F, Hajiesmaeil M, Bonucci B, Pistacchia L, Amoako-Sakyi D, Bonito M, Onidi S, Colombo G, Semino O, Destro Bisol G, Anagnostou P, Metspalu M, Tambets K, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5495-5504.e4. [PMID: 37995693 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
The population history of the Sahara/Sahelian belt is understudied, despite previous work highlighting complex dynamics.1,2,3,4,5,6,7 The Sahelian Fulani, i.e., the largest nomadic pastoral population in the world,8 represent an interesting case because they show a non-negligible proportion of an Eurasian genetic component, usually explained by recent admixture with northern Africans.1,2,5,6,7,9,10,11,12 Nevertheless, their origins are largely unknown, although several hypotheses have been proposed, including a possible link to ancient peoples settled in the Sahara during its last humid phase (Green Sahara, 12,000-5,000 years before present [BP]).13,14,15 To shed light about the Fulani ancient genetic roots, we produced 23 high-coverage (30×) whole genomes from Fulani individuals from 8 Sahelian countries, plus 17 samples from other African groups and 3 from Europeans as controls, for a total of 43 new whole genomes. These data have been compared with 814 published modern whole genomes2,16,17,18 and with relevant published ancient sequences (> 1,800 samples).19 These analyses showed some evidence that the non-sub-Saharan genetic ancestry component of the Fulani might have also been shaped by older events,1,5,6 possibly tracing the Fulani origins to unsampled ancient Green Saharan population(s). The joint analysis of modern and ancient samples allowed us to shed light on the genetic ancestry composition of such ancient Saharans, suggesting a similarity with Late Neolithic Moroccans and possibly pointing to a link with the spread of cattle herding. We also identified two different Fulani clusters whose admixture pattern may be informative about the historical Fulani movements and their later involvement in the western African empires.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eugenia D'Atanasio
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy.
| | - Flavia Risi
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Ravasini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Montinaro
- Department of Biology, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy; Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia
| | - Mogge Hajiesmaeil
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | | | - Letizia Pistacchia
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Daniel Amoako-Sakyi
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
| | - Maria Bonito
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Sara Onidi
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Giulia Colombo
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Ornella Semino
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Giovanni Destro Bisol
- Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Paolo Anagnostou
- Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Mait Metspalu
- Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia
| | | | - Beniamino Trombetta
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
| | - Fulvio Cruciani
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Černý V, Priehodová E, Fortes-Lima C. A Population Genetic Perspective on Subsistence Systems in the Sahel/Savannah Belt of Africa and the Historical Role of Pastoralism. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:genes14030758. [PMID: 36981029 PMCID: PMC10048103 DOI: 10.3390/genes14030758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
This review focuses on the Sahel/Savannah belt, a large region of Africa where two alternative subsistence systems (pastoralism and agriculture), nowadays, interact. It is a long-standing question whether the pastoralists became isolated here from other populations after cattle began to spread into Africa (~8 thousand years ago, kya) or, rather, began to merge with other populations, such as agropastoralists, after the domestication of sorghum and pearl millet (~5 kya) and with the subsequent spread of agriculture. If we look at lactase persistence, a trait closely associated with pastoral lifestyle, we see that its variants in current pastoralists distinguish them from their farmer neighbours. Most other (mostly neutral) genetic polymorphisms do not, however, indicate such clear differentiation between these groups; they suggest a common origin and/or an extensive gene flow. Genetic affinity and ecological symbiosis between the two subsistence systems can help us better understand the population history of this African region. In this review, we show that genomic datasets of modern Sahel/Savannah belt populations properly collected in local populations can complement the still insufficient archaeological research of this region, especially when dealing with the prehistory of mobile populations with perishable material culture and therefore precarious archaeological visibility.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Letenská 1, 118 01 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Edita Priehodová
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Letenská 1, 118 01 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Cesar Fortes-Lima
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18C, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Fan S, Spence JP, Feng Y, Hansen MEB, Terhorst J, Beltrame MH, Ranciaro A, Hirbo J, Beggs W, Thomas N, Nyambo T, Mpoloka SW, Mokone GG, Njamnshi A, Folkunang C, Meskel DW, Belay G, Song YS, Tishkoff SA. Whole-genome sequencing reveals a complex African population demographic history and signatures of local adaptation. Cell 2023; 186:923-939.e14. [PMID: 36868214 PMCID: PMC10568978 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
We conduct high coverage (>30×) whole-genome sequencing of 180 individuals from 12 indigenous African populations. We identify millions of unreported variants, many predicted to be functionally important. We observe that the ancestors of southern African San and central African rainforest hunter-gatherers (RHG) diverged from other populations >200 kya and maintained a large effective population size. We observe evidence for ancient population structure in Africa and for multiple introgression events from "ghost" populations with highly diverged genetic lineages. Although currently geographically isolated, we observe evidence for gene flow between eastern and southern Khoesan-speaking hunter-gatherer populations lasting until ∼12 kya. We identify signatures of local adaptation for traits related to skin color, immune response, height, and metabolic processes. We identify a positively selected variant in the lightly pigmented San that influences pigmentation in vitro by regulating the enhancer activity and gene expression of PDPK1.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shaohua Fan
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Human Phenome Institute, Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, School of Life Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China; Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Jeffrey P Spence
- Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Yuanqing Feng
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Matthew E B Hansen
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Jonathan Terhorst
- Department of Statistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Marcia H Beltrame
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Alessia Ranciaro
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Jibril Hirbo
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - William Beggs
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Neil Thomas
- Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Thomas Nyambo
- Department of Biochemistry, Kampala International University in Tanzania, P.O. Box 9790, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Sununguko Wata Mpoloka
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Botswana Gaborone, Private Bag UB 0022, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Gaonyadiwe George Mokone
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana Gaborone, Private Bag UB 0022, Gaborone, Botswana
| | - Alfred Njamnshi
- Department of Neurology, Central Hospital Yaoundé; Brain Research Africa Initiative (BRAIN), Neuroscience Lab, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 337, Yaoundé, Cameroon
| | - Charles Folkunang
- Department of Pharmacotoxicology and Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 337, Yaoundé, Cameroon
| | - Dawit Wolde Meskel
- Department of Microbial Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Gurja Belay
- Department of Microbial Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Yun S Song
- Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Sarah A Tishkoff
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Fortes-Lima C, Tříska P, Čížková M, Podgorná E, Diallo MY, Schlebusch CM, Černý V. Demographic and Selection Histories of Populations Across the Sahel/Savannah Belt. Mol Biol Evol 2022; 39:6731090. [PMID: 36173804 PMCID: PMC9582163 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The Sahel/Savannah belt harbors diverse populations with different demographic histories and different subsistence patterns. However, populations from this large African region are notably under-represented in genomic research. To investigate the population structure and adaptation history of populations from the Sahel/Savannah space, we generated dense genome-wide genotype data of 327 individuals-comprising 14 ethnolinguistic groups, including 10 previously unsampled populations. Our results highlight fine-scale population structure and complex patterns of admixture, particularly in Fulani groups and Arabic-speaking populations. Among all studied Sahelian populations, only the Rashaayda Arabic-speaking population from eastern Sudan shows a lack of gene flow from African groups, which is consistent with the short history of this population in the African continent. They are recent migrants from Saudi Arabia with evidence of strong genetic isolation during the last few generations and a strong demographic bottleneck. This population also presents a strong selection signal in a genomic region around the CNR1 gene associated with substance dependence and chronic stress. In Western Sahelian populations, signatures of selection were detected in several other genetic regions, including pathways associated with lactase persistence, immune response, and malaria resistance. Taken together, these findings refine our current knowledge of genetic diversity, population structure, migration, admixture and adaptation of human populations in the Sahel/Savannah belt and contribute to our understanding of human history and health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cesar Fortes-Lima
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petr Tříska
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Martina Čížková
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Eliška Podgorná
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Mame Yoro Diallo
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic,Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Phylogeography of Sub-Saharan Mitochondrial Lineages Outside Africa Highlights the Roles of the Holocene Climate Changes and the Atlantic Slave Trade. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23169219. [PMID: 36012483 PMCID: PMC9408831 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23169219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the importance of ancient DNA for understanding human prehistoric dispersals, poor survival means that data remain sparse for many areas in the tropics, including in Africa. In such instances, analysis of contemporary genomes remains invaluable. One promising approach is founder analysis, which identifies and dates migration events in non-recombining systems. However, it has yet to be fully exploited as its application remains controversial. Here, we test the approach by evaluating the age of sub-Saharan mitogenome lineages sampled outside Africa. The analysis confirms that such lineages in the Americas date to recent centuries—the time of the Atlantic slave trade—thereby validating the approach. By contrast, in North Africa, Southwestern Asia and Europe, roughly half of the dispersal signal dates to the early Holocene, during the “greening” of the Sahara. We elaborate these results by showing that the main source regions for the two main dispersal episodes are distinct. For the recent dispersal, the major source was West Africa, but with two exceptions: South America, where the fraction from Southern Africa was greater, and Southwest Asia, where Eastern Africa was the primary source. These observations show the potential of founder analysis as both a supplement and complement to ancient DNA studies.
Collapse
|
7
|
Circum-Saharan Prehistory through the Lens of mtDNA Diversity. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13030533. [PMID: 35328086 PMCID: PMC8951852 DOI: 10.3390/genes13030533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
African history has been significantly influenced by the Sahara, which has represented a barrier for migrations of all living beings, including humans. Major exceptions were the gene flow events that took place between North African and sub-Saharan populations during the so-called African Humid Periods, especially in the Early Holocene (11.5 to 5.5 thousand years ago), and more recently in connection with trans-Saharan commercial routes. In this study, we describe mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of human populations from both sides of the Sahara Desert, i.e., both from North Africa and the Sahel/Savannah belt. The final dataset of 7213 mtDNA sequences from 134 African populations encompasses 470 newly collected and 6743 previously published samples, which were analyzed using descriptive methods and Bayesian statistics. We completely sequenced 26 mtDNAs from sub-Saharan samples belonging to the Eurasian haplogroup N1. Analyses of these N1 mitogenomes revealed their possible routes to the Sahel, mostly via Bab el-Mandab. Our results indicate that maternal gene flow must have been important in this circum-Saharan space, not only within North Africa and the Sahel/Savannah belt but also between these two regions.
Collapse
|
8
|
Kulichová I, Mouterde M, Mokhtar MG, Diallo I, Tříska P, Diallo YM, Hofmanová Z, Poloni ES, Černý V. Demographic history was a formative mechanism of the genetic structure for the taste receptor TAS2R16 in human populations inhabiting Africa's Sahel/Savannah Belt. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2022; 177:540-555. [PMID: 34846066 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2021] [Revised: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Mode of subsistence is an important factor influencing dietary habits and the genetic structure of various populations through differential intensity of gene flow and selection pressures. Previous studies suggest that in Africa Taste 2 Receptor Member 16 (TAS2R16), which encodes the 7-transmembrane receptor protein for bitterness, might also be under positive selection pressure. METHODS However, since sampling coverage of populations was limited, we created a new TAS2R16 population dataset from across the African Sahel/Savannah belt representing various local populations of differing subsistence modes, linguistic affiliations, and geographic provenience. We sequenced the TAS2R16 exon gene and analyzed 2250 haplotypes among 19 populations. RESULTS We found no evidence for selection as a driving force of genetic variation at this locus; instead, we discovered a highly significant correlation between TAS2R16 genetic and geographical distances based on provenience of the sampled populations, strongly suggesting that genetic drift most likely prevailed over positive selection at this specific locus. We also found significant correlations with other independent loci, mainly in sedentary farmers. DISCUSSION Our results do not support the notion that the genetic diversity of TAS2R16 in Sahelian populations was shaped by selective pressures. This could result from several alternative and not mutually exclusive mechanisms, of which the possibility that, due to the pleiotropic nature of TAS2R16, selective pressures on other traits could counterbalance those acting on bitter taste perception, or that the change of diet in the Neolithic generally relaxed selective pressure on this gene.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iva Kulichová
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.,Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Médéric Mouterde
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Mohammed G Mokhtar
- Arabic Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Kordofan, Al-Ubayyid, Sudan
| | - Issa Diallo
- Département de Linguistique et Langues Nationales, Institut des Sciences des Sociétés, CNRST, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Petr Tříska
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Yoro Mame Diallo
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.,Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Zuzana Hofmanová
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Museology, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Estella S Poloni
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva (iGE3), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Černý V, Fortes-Lima C, Tříska P. Demographic history and admixture dynamics in African Sahelian populations. Hum Mol Genet 2020; 30:R29-R36. [PMID: 33105478 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddaa239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2020] [Revised: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The Sahel/Savannah belt of Africa is a contact zone between two subsistence systems (nomadic pastoralism and sedentary farming) and of two groups of populations, namely Eurasians penetrating from northern Africa southwards and sub-Saharan Africans migrating northwards. Because pastoralism is characterized by a high degree of mobility, it leaves few significant archaeological traces. Demographic history seen through the lens of population genetic studies complements our historical and archaeological knowledge in this African region. In this review, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of demographic history in the Sahel/Savannah belt as revealed by genetic studies. We show the impact of food-producing subsistence strategies on population structure and the somewhat different migration patterns in the western and eastern part of the region. Genomic studies show that the gene pool of various groups of Sahelians consists in a complex mosaic of several ancestries. We also touch upon various signals of genetic adaptations such as lactase persistence, taste sensitivity and malaria resistance, all of which have different distribution patterns among Sahelian populations. Overall, genetic studies contribute to gain a deeper understanding about the demographic and adaptive history of human populations in this specific African region and beyond.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viktor Černý
- Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Cesar Fortes-Lima
- Subdepartment of Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Petr Tříska
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Priehodová E, Austerlitz F, Čížková M, Nováčková J, Ricaut FX, Hofmanová Z, Schlebusch CM, Černý V. Sahelian pastoralism from the perspective of variants associated with lactase persistence. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 173:423-436. [PMID: 32812238 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Archeological evidence shows that first nomadic pastoralists came to the African Sahel from northeastern Sahara, where milking is reported by ~7.5 ka. A second wave of pastoralists arrived with the expansion of Arabic tribes in 7th-14th century CE. All Sahelian pastoralists depend on milk production but genetic diversity underlying their lactase persistence (LP) is poorly understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS We investigated SNP variants associated with LP in 1,241 individuals from 29 mostly pastoralist populations in the Sahel. Then, we analyzed six SNPs in the neighboring fragment (419 kb) in the Fulani and Tuareg with the -13910*T mutation, reconstructed haplotypes, and calculated expansion age and growth rate of this variant. RESULTS Our results reveal a geographic localization of two different LP variants in the Sahel: -13910*T west of Lake Chad (Fulani and Tuareg pastoralists) and -13915*G east of there (mostly Arabic-speaking pastoralists). We show that -13910*T has a more diversified haplotype background among the Fulani than among the Tuareg and that the age estimate for expansion of this variant among the Fulani (~8.5 ka) corresponds to introduction of cattle to the area. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study showing that the "Eurasian" LP allele -13910*T is widespread both in northern Europe and in the Sahel; however, it is limited to pastoralists in the Sahel. Since the Fulani haplotype with -13910*T is shared with contemporary Eurasians, its origin could be in a region encompassing the Near East and northeastern Africa in a population ancestral to both Saharan pastoralists and European farmers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Edita Priehodová
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Frédéric Austerlitz
- UMR 7206 EcoAnthropologie et Ethnobiologie, CNRS/MNHN/Université Paris Diderot, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France
| | - Martina Čížková
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Nováčková
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - François-Xavier Ricaut
- Department of Evolution and Biological Diversity (UMR 5174), Université de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS, IRD, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Zuzana Hofmanová
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Carina M Schlebusch
- Department of Organismal Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa.,SciLifeLab, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Nováčková J, Čížková M, Mokhtar MG, Duda P, Stenzl V, Tříska P, Hofmanová Z, Černý V. Subsistence strategy was the main factor driving population differentiation in the bidirectional corridor of the African Sahel. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 171:496-508. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jana Nováčková
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| | - Martina Čížková
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| | | | - Pavel Duda
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic
| | - Vlastimil Stenzl
- Department of Forensic GeneticsInstitute of Criminalistics Prague Czech Republic
| | - Petr Tříska
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| | - Zuzana Hofmanová
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Chaichoompu K, Abegaz F, Cavadas B, Fernandes V, Müller-Myhsok B, Pereira L, Van Steen K. A different view on fine-scale population structure in Western African populations. Hum Genet 2020; 139:45-59. [PMID: 31630246 PMCID: PMC6942040 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-019-02069-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Due to its long genetic evolutionary history, Africans exhibit more genetic variation than any other population in the world. Their genetic diversity further lends itself to subdivisions of Africans into groups of individuals with a genetic similarity of varying degrees of granularity. It remains challenging to detect fine-scale structure in a computationally efficient and meaningful way. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept of a novel fine-scale population structure detection tool with Western African samples. These samples consist of 1396 individuals from 25 ethnic groups (two groups are African American descendants). The strategy is based on a recently developed tool called IPCAPS. IPCAPS, or Iterative Pruning to CApture Population Structure, is a genetic divisive clustering strategy that enhances iterative pruning PCA, is robust to outliers and does not require a priori computation of haplotypes. Our strategy identified in total 12 groups and 6 groups were revealed as fine-scale structure detected in the samples from Cameroon, Gambia, Mali, Southwest USA, and Barbados. Our finding helped to explain evolutionary processes in the analyzed West African samples and raise awareness for fine-scale structure resolution when conducting genome-wide association and interaction studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kridsadakorn Chaichoompu
- GIGA-R Medical Genomics-BIO3, University of Liege, Avenue de l’Hôpital 11, 4000 Liege, Belgium
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, 80804 Munich, Germany
| | - Fentaw Abegaz
- GIGA-R Medical Genomics-BIO3, University of Liege, Avenue de l’Hôpital 11, 4000 Liege, Belgium
| | - Bruno Cavadas
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto (i3S), Rua Alfredo Allen, 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho, 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - Verónica Fernandes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto (i3S), Rua Alfredo Allen, 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho, 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | | | - Luísa Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto (i3S), Rua Alfredo Allen, 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Rua Júlio Amaral de Carvalho, 45, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - Kristel Van Steen
- GIGA-R Medical Genomics-BIO3, University of Liege, Avenue de l’Hôpital 11, 4000 Liege, Belgium
- WELBIO (Walloon Excellence in Lifesciences and Biotechnology), Avenue Pasteur 6, 1300 Wavre, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Kleisner K, Pokorný Š, Čížková M, Froment A, Černý V. Nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers of the Sahel/Savannah Belt of Africa in the light of geometric morphometrics based on facial portraits. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2019; 169:632-645. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Revised: 04/09/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karel Kleisner
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of ScienceCharles University Prague Czech Republic
| | - Šimon Pokorný
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of ScienceCharles University Prague Czech Republic
| | - Martina Čížková
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of ScienceCharles University Prague Czech Republic
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| | - Alain Froment
- UMR 208‐PalocIRD‐MNHN, Musée de l'Homme Paris France
| | - Viktor Černý
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of ScienceCharles University Prague Czech Republic
- Archaeogenetics LaboratoryInstitute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Fan S, Kelly DE, Beltrame MH, Hansen MEB, Mallick S, Ranciaro A, Hirbo J, Thompson S, Beggs W, Nyambo T, Omar SA, Meskel DW, Belay G, Froment A, Patterson N, Reich D, Tishkoff SA. African evolutionary history inferred from whole genome sequence data of 44 indigenous African populations. Genome Biol 2019; 20:82. [PMID: 31023338 PMCID: PMC6485071 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-019-1679-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Africa is the origin of modern humans within the past 300 thousand years. To infer the complex demographic history of African populations and adaptation to diverse environments, we sequenced the genomes of 92 individuals from 44 indigenous African populations. RESULTS Genetic structure analyses indicate that among Africans, genetic ancestry is largely partitioned by geography and language, though we observe mixed ancestry in many individuals, consistent with both short- and long-range migration events followed by admixture. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the San genetic lineage is basal to all modern human lineages. The San and Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic, and Nilo-Saharan lineages were substantially diverged by 160 kya (thousand years ago). In contrast, the San and Central African rainforest hunter-gatherer (CRHG), Hadza hunter-gatherer, and Sandawe hunter-gatherer lineages were diverged by ~ 120-100 kya. Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic lineages diverged more recently by ~ 54-16 kya. Eastern and western CRHG lineages diverged by ~ 50-31 kya, and the western CRHG lineages diverged by ~ 18-12 kya. The San and CRHG populations maintained the largest effective population size compared to other populations prior to 60 kya. Further, we observed signatures of positive selection at genes involved in muscle development, bone synthesis, reproduction, immune function, energy metabolism, and cell signaling, which may contribute to local adaptation of African populations. CONCLUSIONS We observe high levels of genomic variation between ethnically diverse Africans which is largely correlated with geography and language. Our study indicates ancient population substructure and local adaptation of Africans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shaohua Fan
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Present Address: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Human Phenome Institute, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 2005 Songhu Road, Shanghai, China
| | - Derek E Kelly
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Marcia H Beltrame
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Matthew E B Hansen
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Swapan Mallick
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Alessia Ranciaro
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Jibril Hirbo
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Present Address: Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA
| | - Simon Thompson
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - William Beggs
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Thomas Nyambo
- Department of Biochemistry, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dares Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Sabah A Omar
- Center for Biotechnology Research and Development, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Gurja Belay
- Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Nick Patterson
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - David Reich
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sarah A Tishkoff
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
A dispersal of Homo sapiens from southern to eastern Africa immediately preceded the out-of-Africa migration. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4728. [PMID: 30894612 PMCID: PMC6426877 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41176-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Africa was the birth-place of Homo sapiens and has the earliest evidence for symbolic behaviour and complex technologies. The best-attested early flowering of these distinctive features was in a glacial refuge zone on the southern coast 100–70 ka, with fewer indications in eastern Africa until after 70 ka. Yet it was eastern Africa, not the south, that witnessed the first major demographic expansion, ~70–60 ka, which led to the peopling of the rest of the world. One possible explanation is that important cultural traits were transmitted from south to east at this time. Here we identify a mitochondrial signal of such a dispersal soon after ~70 ka – the only time in the last 200,000 years that humid climate conditions encompassed southern and tropical Africa. This dispersal immediately preceded the out-of-Africa expansions, potentially providing the trigger for these expansions by transmitting significant cultural elements from the southern African refuge.
Collapse
|
16
|
Černý V, Kulichová I, Poloni ES, Nunes JM, Pereira L, Mayor A, Sanchez-Mazas A. Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations. HLA 2018; 91:153-166. [DOI: 10.1111/tan.13189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 12/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- V. Černý
- Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Natural Sciences; Comenius University, Ilkovicova 6; 842 15 Bratislava Slovakia
| | - I. Kulichová
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Prague Czech Republic
| | - E. S. Poloni
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit; University of Geneva; Geneva Switzerland
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3); Geneva Switzerland
| | - J. M. Nunes
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit; University of Geneva; Geneva Switzerland
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3); Geneva Switzerland
| | - L. Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde; Universidade do Porto (i3S); Porto Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP); Porto Portugal
| | - A. Mayor
- Laboratory of African Archaeology and Peopling History (APA), Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit; University of Geneva; Geneva Switzerland
| | - A. Sanchez-Mazas
- Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit; University of Geneva; Geneva Switzerland
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3); Geneva Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Sanchez-Mazas A, Černý V, Di D, Buhler S, Podgorná E, Chevallier E, Brunet L, Weber S, Kervaire B, Testi M, Andreani M, Tiercy JM, Villard J, Nunes JM. The HLA-B landscape of Africa: Signatures of pathogen-driven selection and molecular identification of candidate alleles to malaria protection. Mol Ecol 2017; 26:6238-6252. [PMID: 28950417 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2016] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes play a key role in the immune response to infectious diseases, some of which are highly prevalent in specific environments, like malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Former case-control studies showed that one particular HLA-B allele, B*53, was associated with malaria protection in Gambia, but this hypothesis was not tested so far within a population genetics framework. In this study, our objective was to assess whether pathogen-driven selection associated with malaria contributed to shape the HLA-B genetic landscape of Africa. To that aim, we first typed the HLA-A and -B loci in 484 individuals from 11 populations living in different environments across the Sahel, and we analysed these data together with those available for 29 other populations using several approaches including linear modelling on various genetic, geographic and environmental parameters. In addition to relevant signatures of populations' demography and migrations history in the genetic differentiation patterns of both HLA-A and -B loci, we found that the frequencies of three HLA alleles, B*53, B*78 and A*74, were significantly associated with Plasmodium falciparum malaria prevalence, suggesting their increase through pathogen-driven selection in malaria-endemic environments. The two HLA-B alleles were further identified, by high-throughput sequencing, as B*53:01:01 (in putative linkage disequilibrium with one HLA-C allele, C*04:01:01:01) and B*78:01 in all but one individuals tested, making them appropriate candidates to malaria protection. These results highlight the role of environmental factors in the evolution of the HLA polymorphism and open key perspectives for functional studies focusing on HLA peptide-binding properties.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Sanchez-Mazas
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Viktor Černý
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Da Di
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stéphane Buhler
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Eliška Podgorná
- Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Elodie Chevallier
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lydie Brunet
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Stephan Weber
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Barbara Kervaire
- Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Manuela Testi
- Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplant Biology, IME Foundation, Policlinic of the University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Andreani
- Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplant Biology, IME Foundation, Policlinic of the University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Jean-Marie Tiercy
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jean Villard
- Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Genetic and Laboratory Medicine, Transplantation Immunology Unit and National Reference Laboratory for Histocompatibility (UIT/LNRH), Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - José Manuel Nunes
- Department of Genetics and Evolution - Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History (AGP), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Genetics and Genomics in Geneva (IGE3), Geneva, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Kulichová I, Fernandes V, Deme A, Nováčková J, Stenzl V, Novelletto A, Pereira L, Černý V. Internal diversification of non-Sub-Saharan haplogroups in Sahelian populations and the spread of pastoralism beyond the Sahara. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 164:424-434. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2017] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Iva Kulichová
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science; Charles University in Prague; Czech Republic
| | - Verónica Fernandes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto; Porto Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP); Porto Portugal
| | - Alioune Deme
- Département d'Histoire, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines; Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar; Senegal
| | - Jana Nováčková
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory; Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Czech Republic
| | - Vlastimil Stenzl
- Department of Forensic Genetics; Institute of Criminalistics; Prague Czech Republic
| | | | - Luísa Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto; Porto Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP); Porto Portugal
- Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto; Porto Portugal
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory; Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Čížková M, Hofmanová Z, Mokhtar MG, Janoušek V, Diallo I, Munclinger P, Černý V. Alu insertion polymorphisms in the African Sahel and the origin of Fulani pastoralists. Ann Hum Biol 2017; 44:537-545. [PMID: 28502204 DOI: 10.1080/03014460.2017.1328073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The origin of Western African pastoralism, represented today by the Fulani nomads, has been a highly debated issue for the past decades, and has not yet been conclusively resolved. AIM This study focused on Alu polymorphisms in sedentary and nomadic populations across the African Sahel to investigate patterns of diversity that can complement the existing results and contribute to resolving issues concerning the origin of West African pastoralism. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A new dataset of 21 Alu biallelic markers covering a substantial part of the African Sahel has been analysed jointly with several published North African populations. RESULTS Interestingly, with regard to Alu variation, the relationship of Fulani pastoralists to North Africans is not as evident as was earlier revealed by studies of uniparental loci such as mtDNA and NRY. Alu insertions point rather to an affinity of Fulani pastoralists to Eastern Africans also leading a pastoral lifestyle. CONCLUSIONS It is suggested that contemporary Fulani pastoralists might be descendants of an ancestral Eastern African population that, while crossing the Sahara in the Holocene, admixed slightly with a population of Eurasian (as evidenced by uniparental polymorphisms) ancestry. It seems that, in the Fulani pastoralists, Alu elements reflect more ancient genetic relationships than do uniparental genetic systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Martina Čížková
- a Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science , Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Zuzana Hofmanová
- a Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science , Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic.,b Palaeogenetics Group , Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
| | - Mohammed G Mokhtar
- c Arabic Department, Faculty of Arts , University of Kordofan , Al-Ubayyid , Sudan
| | - Václav Janoušek
- d Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science , Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Issa Diallo
- e Département de Linguistique et Langues Nationales , Institut des Sciences des Sociétés, CNRST , Ouagadougou , Burkina Faso
| | - Pavel Munclinger
- d Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science , Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Viktor Černý
- f Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Archaeogenetics Laboratory , Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic , Prague , Czech Republic
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Podgorná E, Diallo I, Vangenot C, Sanchez-Mazas A, Sabbagh A, Černý V, Poloni ES. Variation in NAT2 acetylation phenotypes is associated with differences in food-producing subsistence modes and ecoregions in Africa. BMC Evol Biol 2015; 15:263. [PMID: 26620671 PMCID: PMC4665893 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-015-0543-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2015] [Accepted: 11/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Dietary changes associated to shifts in subsistence strategies during human evolution may have induced new selective pressures on phenotypes, as currently held for lactase persistence. Similar hypotheses exist for arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) mediated acetylation capacity, a well-known pharmacogenetic trait with wide inter-individual variation explained by polymorphisms in the NAT2 gene. The environmental causative factor (if any) driving its evolution is as yet unknown, but significant differences in prevalence of acetylation phenotypes are found between hunter-gatherer and food-producing populations, both in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide, and between agriculturalists and pastoralists in Central Asia. These two subsistence strategies also prevail among sympatric populations of the African Sahel, but knowledge on NAT2 variation among African pastoral nomads was up to now very scarce. Here we addressed the hypothesis of different selective pressures associated to the agriculturalist or pastoralist lifestyles having acted on the evolution of NAT2 by sequencing the gene in 287 individuals from five pastoralist and one agriculturalist Sahelian populations. Results We show that the significant NAT2 genetic structure of African populations is mainly due to frequency differences of three major haplotypes, two of which are categorized as decreased function alleles (NAT2*5B and NAT2*6A), particularly common in populations living in arid environments, and one fast allele (NAT2*12A), more frequently detected in populations living in tropical humid environments. This genetic structure does associate more strongly with a classification of populations according to ecoregions than to subsistence strategies, mainly because most Sahelian and East African populations display little to no genetic differentiation between them, although both regions hold nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralist and sedentary agriculturalist communities. Furthermore, we found significantly higher predicted proportions of slow acetylators in pastoralists than in agriculturalists, but also among food-producing populations living in the Sahelian and dry savanna zones than in those living in humid environments, irrespective of their mode of subsistence. Conclusion Our results suggest a possible independent influence of both the dietary habits associated with subsistence modes and the chemical environment associated with climatic zones and biomes on the evolution of NAT2 diversity in sub-Saharan African populations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0543-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eliška Podgorná
- Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic. .,Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, University of Geneva, 12 Rue Gustave-Revilliod, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
| | - Issa Diallo
- Département de Linguistique et Langues Nationales, Institut des Sciences des Sociétés, CNRST, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
| | - Christelle Vangenot
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, University of Geneva, 12 Rue Gustave-Revilliod, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
| | - Alicia Sanchez-Mazas
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, University of Geneva, 12 Rue Gustave-Revilliod, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
| | - Audrey Sabbagh
- IRD, UMR216, Mère et enfant face aux infections tropicales, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Paris, France.
| | - Viktor Černý
- Department of the Archaeology of Landscape and Archaeobiology, Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Estella S Poloni
- Department of Genetics and Evolution, Anthropology Unit, Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, University of Geneva, 12 Rue Gustave-Revilliod, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Triska P, Soares P, Patin E, Fernandes V, Cerny V, Pereira L. Extensive Admixture and Selective Pressure Across the Sahel Belt. Genome Biol Evol 2015; 7:3484-95. [PMID: 26614524 PMCID: PMC4700964 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evv236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide studies of African populations have the potential to reveal powerful insights into the evolution of our species, as these diverse populations have been exposed to intense selective pressures imposed by infectious diseases, diet, and environmental factors. Within Africa, the Sahel Belt extensively overlaps the geographical center of several endemic infections such as malaria, trypanosomiasis, meningitis, and hemorrhagic fevers. We screened 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms in 161 individuals from 13 Sahelian populations, which together with published data cover Western, Central, and Eastern Sahel, and include both nomadic and sedentary groups. We confirmed the role of this Belt as a main corridor for human migrations across the continent. Strong admixture was observed in both Central and Eastern Sahelian populations, with North Africans and Near Eastern/Arabians, respectively, but it was inexistent in Western Sahelian populations. Genome-wide local ancestry inference in admixed Sahelian populations revealed several candidate regions that were significantly enriched for non-autochthonous haplotypes, and many showed to be under positive selection. The DARC gene region in Arabs and Nubians was enriched for African ancestry, whereas the RAB3GAP1/LCT/MCM6 region in Oromo, the TAS2R gene family in Fulani, and the ALMS1/NAT8 in Turkana and Samburu were enriched for non-African ancestry. Signals of positive selection varied in terms of geographic amplitude. Some genomic regions were selected across the Belt, the most striking example being the malaria-related DARC gene. Others were Western-specific (oxytocin, calcium, and heart pathways), Eastern-specific (lipid pathways), or even population-restricted (TAS2R genes in Fulani, which may reflect sexual selection).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Petr Triska
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar da Universidade do Porto (ICBAS), Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Soares
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal Department of Biology, CBMA (Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Etienne Patin
- Unit of Human Evolutionary Genetics, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
| | - Veronica Fernandes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Viktor Cerny
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Luisa Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Cerezo M, Gusmão L, Černý V, Uddin N, Syndercombe-Court D, Gómez-Carballa A, Göbel T, Schneider PM, Salas A. Comprehensive Analysis of Pan-African Mitochondrial DNA Variation Provides New Insights into Continental Variation and Demography. J Genet Genomics 2015; 43:133-43. [PMID: 27020033 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgg.2015.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2015] [Revised: 07/30/2015] [Accepted: 09/15/2015] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Africa is the cradle of all human beings, and although it has been the focus of a number of genetic studies, there are many questions that remain unresolved. We have performed one of the largest and most comprehensive meta-analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages carried out in the African continent to date. We generated high-throughput mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data (230 SNPs) from 2024 Africans, where more than 500 of them were additionally genotyped for the control region. These data were analyzed together with over 12,700 control region profiles collected from the literature, representing more than 300 population samples from Africa. Insights into the African homeland of humans are discussed. Phylogeographic patterns for the African continent are shown at a high phylogeographic resolution as well as at the population and regional levels. The deepest branch of the mtDNA tree, haplogroup L0, shows the highest sub-haplogroup diversity in Southeast and East Africa, suggesting this region as the homeland for modern humans. Several demographic estimates point to the coast as a facilitator of human migration in Africa, but the data indicate complex patterns, perhaps mirroring the effect of recent continental-scaled demographic events in re-shaping African mtDNA variability.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- María Cerezo
- Unidade de Xenética, Departamento de Anatomía Patolóxica e Ciencias Forenses, Instituto de Medicina Legal, Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Galicia 15782, Spain; The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Leonor Gusmão
- DNA Diagnostic Laboratory, Institute of Biology, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 20550-900, Brazil; IPATIMUP Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto, Porto 4200-465, Portugal
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague 118-01, Czech Republic
| | - Nabeel Uddin
- Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London SE1 9NH, UK
| | | | - Alberto Gómez-Carballa
- Unidade de Xenética, Departamento de Anatomía Patolóxica e Ciencias Forenses, Instituto de Medicina Legal, Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Galicia 15782, Spain
| | - Tanja Göbel
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne D-50823, Germany
| | - Peter M Schneider
- Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne D-50823, Germany
| | - Antonio Salas
- Unidade de Xenética, Departamento de Anatomía Patolóxica e Ciencias Forenses, Instituto de Medicina Legal, Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Galicia 15782, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Fortes-Lima C, Brucato N, Croze M, Bellis G, Schiavinato S, Massougbodji A, Migot-Nabias F, Dugoujon JM. Genetic population study of Y-chromosome markers in Benin and Ivory Coast ethnic groups. Forensic Sci Int Genet 2015; 19:232-237. [PMID: 26275614 DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2015] [Revised: 07/17/2015] [Accepted: 07/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Ninety-six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and seventeen short tandem repeat (STRs) were investigated on the Y-chromosome of 288 unrelated healthy individuals from populations in Benin (Bariba, Yoruba, and Fon) and the Ivory Coast (Ahizi and Yacouba). We performed a multidimensional scaling analysis based on FST and RST genetic distances using a large extensive database of sub-Saharan African populations. There is more genetic homogeneity in Ivory Coast populations compared with populations from Benin. Notably, the Beninese Yoruba are significantly differentiated from neighbouring groups, but also from the Yoruba from Nigeria (FST>0.05; P<0.01). The Y-chromosome dataset presented here provides new valuable data to understand the complex genetic diversity and human male demographic events in West Africa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cesar Fortes-Lima
- Evolutionary Medicine Group, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, UMR 5288, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Toulouse 3-Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Nicolas Brucato
- Leiden University Center for Linguistics, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Myriam Croze
- Section of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology II, University of Munich, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Gil Bellis
- Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, Paris, France
| | - Stephanie Schiavinato
- Evolutionary Medicine Group, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, UMR 5288, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Toulouse 3-Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Achille Massougbodji
- Centre d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Paludisme Associé à la Grossesse et à l'Enfance, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin
| | - Florence Migot-Nabias
- Centre d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Paludisme Associé à la Grossesse et à l'Enfance, Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR 216 Mère et enfant face aux infections tropicales, 4 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75006 Paris, France; COMUE Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Descartes, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Paris, France
| | - Jean-Michel Dugoujon
- Evolutionary Medicine Group, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, UMR 5288, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Toulouse 3-Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Dobon B, Hassan HY, Laayouni H, Luisi P, Ricaño-Ponce I, Zhernakova A, Wijmenga C, Tahir H, Comas D, Netea MG, Bertranpetit J. The genetics of East African populations: a Nilo-Saharan component in the African genetic landscape. Sci Rep 2015; 5:9996. [PMID: 26017457 PMCID: PMC4446898 DOI: 10.1038/srep09996] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2014] [Accepted: 03/24/2015] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
East Africa is a strategic region to study human genetic diversity due to the presence of ethnically, linguistically, and geographically diverse populations. Here, we provide new insight into the genetic history of populations living in the Sudanese region of East Africa by analysing nine ethnic groups belonging to three African linguistic families: Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic. A total of 500 individuals were genotyped for 200,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Principal component analysis, clustering analysis using ADMIXTURE, FST statistics, and the three-population test were used to investigate the underlying genetic structure and ancestry of the different ethno-linguistic groups. Our analyses revealed a genetic component for Sudanese Nilo-Saharan speaking groups (Darfurians and part of Nuba populations) related to Nilotes of South Sudan, but not to other Sudanese populations or other sub-Saharan populations. Populations inhabiting the North of the region showed close genetic affinities with North Africa, with a component that could be remnant of North Africans before the migrations of Arabs from Arabia. In addition, we found very low genetic distances between populations in genes important for anti-malarial and anti-bacterial host defence, suggesting similar selective pressures on these genes and stressing the importance of considering functional pathways to understand the evolutionary history of populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Begoña Dobon
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Hisham Y Hassan
- 1] College of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Omdurman, Sudan [2] Banoon ART and Cytogenetics Centre, Bahrain Defence Force Hospital, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
| | - Hafid Laayouni
- 1] Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain [2] Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Grup de Biologia Evolutiva (GBE), Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
| | - Pierre Luisi
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Isis Ricaño-Ponce
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Genetics, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Alexandra Zhernakova
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Genetics, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Cisca Wijmenga
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Genetics, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Hanan Tahir
- Sudan Medical and Scientific Research Institute, University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - David Comas
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Mihai G Netea
- 1] Department of Internal Medicine and [2] Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jaume Bertranpetit
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Fernandes V, Triska P, Pereira JB, Alshamali F, Rito T, Machado A, Fajkošová Z, Cavadas B, Černý V, Soares P, Richards MB, Pereira L. Genetic stratigraphy of key demographic events in Arabia. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0118625. [PMID: 25738654 PMCID: PMC4349752 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2014] [Accepted: 01/21/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
At the crossroads between Africa and Eurasia, Arabia is necessarily a melting pot, its peoples enriched by successive gene flow over the generations. Estimating the timing and impact of these multiple migrations are important steps in reconstructing the key demographic events in the human history. However, current methods based on genome-wide information identify admixture events inefficiently, tending to estimate only the more recent ages, as here in the case of admixture events across the Red Sea (∼8–37 generations for African input into Arabia, and 30–90 generations for “back-to-Africa” migrations). An mtDNA-based founder analysis, corroborated by detailed analysis of the whole-mtDNA genome, affords an alternative means by which to identify, date and quantify multiple migration events at greater time depths, across the full range of modern human history, albeit for the maternal line of descent only. In Arabia, this approach enables us to infer several major pulses of dispersal between the Near East and Arabia, most likely via the Gulf corridor. Although some relict lineages survive in Arabia from the time of the out-of-Africa dispersal, 60 ka, the major episodes in the peopling of the Peninsula took place from north to south in the Late Glacial and, to a lesser extent, the immediate post-glacial/Neolithic. Exchanges across the Red Sea were mainly due to the Arab slave trade and maritime dominance (from ∼2.5 ka to very recent times), but had already begun by the early Holocene, fuelled by the establishment of maritime networks since ∼8 ka. The main “back-to-Africa” migrations, again undetected by genome-wide dating analyses, occurred in the Late Glacial period for introductions into eastern Africa, whilst the Neolithic was more significant for migrations towards North Africa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Verónica Fernandes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Petr Triska
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Universidade do Porto (ICBAS), Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana B. Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Farida Alshamali
- General Department of Forensic Sciences and Criminology, Dubai Police General Headquarters, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Teresa Rito
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Alison Machado
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Zuzana Fajkošová
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Bruno Cavadas
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory, Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Pedro Soares
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Martin B. Richards
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
| | - Luísa Pereira
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal
- Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Gebremeskel EI, Ibrahim ME. Y-chromosome E haplogroups: their distribution and implication to the origin of Afro-Asiatic languages and pastoralism. Eur J Hum Genet 2014; 22:1387-92. [PMID: 24667790 PMCID: PMC4231410 DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2014.41] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2013] [Revised: 02/11/2014] [Accepted: 02/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Archeological and paleontological evidences point to East Africa as the likely area of early evolution of modern humans. Genetic studies also indicate that populations from the region often contain, but not exclusively, representatives of the more basal clades of mitochondrial and Y-chromosome phylogenies. Most Y-chromosome haplogroup diversity in Africa, however, is present within macrohaplogroup E that seem to have appeared 21 000-32 000 YBP somewhere between the Red Sea and Lake Chad. The combined analysis of 17 bi-allelic markers in 1214 Y chromosomes together with cultural background of 49 populations displayed in various metrics: network, multidimensional scaling, principal component analysis and neighbor-joining plots, indicate a major contribution of East African populations to the foundation of the macrohaplogroup, suggesting a diversification that predates the appearance of some cultural traits and the subsequent expansion that is more associated with the cultural and linguistic diversity witnessed today. The proto-Afro-Asiatic group carrying the E-P2 mutation may have appeared at this point in time and subsequently gave rise to the different major population groups including current speakers of the Afro-Asiatic languages and pastoralist populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eyoab I Gebremeskel
- 1] Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan [2] Department of Biology, Eritrea Institute of Technology, Mai-Nefhi, Eritrea
| | - Muntaser E Ibrahim
- Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Aimé C, Verdu P, Ségurel L, Martinez-Cruz B, Hegay T, Heyer E, Austerlitz F. Microsatellite data show recent demographic expansions in sedentary but not in nomadic human populations in Africa and Eurasia. Eur J Hum Genet 2014; 22:1201-7. [PMID: 24518830 DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2014.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2013] [Revised: 12/10/2013] [Accepted: 12/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The transition from hunting and gathering to plant and animal domestication was one of the most important cultural and technological revolutions in human history. According to archeologists and paleoanthropologists, this transition triggered major demographic expansions. However, few genetic studies have found traces of Neolithic expansions in the current repartition of genetic polymorphism, pointing rather toward Paleolithic expansions. Here, we used microsatellite autosomal data to investigate the past demographic history of 87 African and Eurasian human populations with contrasted lifestyles (nomadic hunter-gatherers, semi-nomadic herders and sedentary farmers). Likely due to the combination of a higher mutation rate and the possibility to analyze several loci as independent replicates of the coalescent process, the analysis of microsatellite data allowed us to infer more recent expansions than previous genetic studies, potentially resulting from the Neolithic transition. Despite the variability in their location and environment, we found consistent expansions for all sedentary farmers, while we inferred constant population sizes for all hunter-gatherers and most herders that could result from constraints linked to a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle and/or competition for land between herders and farmers. As an exception, we inferred expansions for Central Asian herders. This might be linked with the arid environment of this area that may have been more favorable to nomadic herders than to sedentary farmers. Alternatively, current Central Asian herders may descent from populations who have first experienced a transition from hunter-gathering to sedentary agropastoralism, and then a second transition to nomadic herding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carla Aimé
- Laboratoire d'Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris 7 Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Paul Verdu
- Laboratoire d'Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris 7 Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Laure Ségurel
- Laboratoire d'Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris 7 Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Begoña Martinez-Cruz
- Integrative Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
| | - Tatyana Hegay
- Academy of Sciences, Institute of Immunology, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
| | - Evelyne Heyer
- Laboratoire d'Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris 7 Diderot, Paris, France
| | - Frédéric Austerlitz
- Laboratoire d'Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université Paris 7 Diderot, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Priehodová E, Abdelsawy A, Heyer E, Černý V. Lactase Persistence Variants in Arabia and in the African Arabs. Hum Biol 2014; 86:7-18. [DOI: 10.3378/027.086.0101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/15/2013] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
|
29
|
Rito T, Richards MB, Fernandes V, Alshamali F, Cerny V, Pereira L, Soares P. The first modern human dispersals across Africa. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80031. [PMID: 24236171 PMCID: PMC3827445 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2013] [Accepted: 09/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of more refined chronologies for climate change and archaeology in prehistoric Africa, and for the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), now make it feasible to test more sophisticated models of early modern human dispersals suggested by mtDNA distributions. Here we have generated 42 novel whole-mtDNA genomes belonging to haplogroup L0, the most divergent clade in the maternal line of descent, and analysed them alongside the growing database of African lineages belonging to L0's sister clade, L1'6. We propose that the last common ancestor of modern human mtDNAs (carried by "mitochondrial Eve") possibly arose in central Africa ~180 ka, at a time of low population size. By ~130 ka two distinct groups of anatomically modern humans co-existed in Africa: broadly, the ancestors of many modern-day Khoe and San populations in the south and a second central/eastern African group that includes the ancestors of most extant worldwide populations. Early modern human dispersals correlate with climate changes, particularly the tropical African "megadroughts" of MIS 5 (marine isotope stage 5, 135-75 ka) which paradoxically may have facilitated expansions in central and eastern Africa, ultimately triggering the dispersal out of Africa of people carrying haplogroup L3 ~60 ka. Two south to east migrations are discernible within haplogroup LO. One, between 120 and 75 ka, represents the first unambiguous long-range modern human dispersal detected by mtDNA and might have allowed the dispersal of several markers of modernity. A second one, within the last 20 ka signalled by L0d, may have been responsible for the spread of southern click-consonant languages to eastern Africa, contrary to the view that these eastern examples constitute relicts of an ancient, much wider distribution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Rito
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
| | - Martin B. Richards
- School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, QueensGate, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
| | - Verónica Fernandes
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Farida Alshamali
- Dubai Police GHQ - General Department of Forensic Sciences & Criminology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Viktor Cerny
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
- Institute for Advanced Study, Paris, France
| | - Luísa Pereira
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Soares
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto), Porto, Portugal
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Podgorná E, Soares P, Pereira L, Černý V. The Genetic Impact of the Lake Chad Basin Population in North Africa as Documented by Mitochondrial Diversity and Internal Variation of the L3e5 Haplogroup. Ann Hum Genet 2013; 77:513-23. [DOI: 10.1111/ahg.12040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2013] [Accepted: 08/02/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eliška Podgorná
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics; Faculty of Science; Charles University; Prague Czech Republic
| | - Pedro Soares
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto); Porto Portugal
| | - Luísa Pereira
- IPATIMUP (Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto); Porto Portugal
- Faculdade de Medicina, da Universidade do Porto; Portugal
| | - Viktor Černý
- Archaeogenetics Laboratory; Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Prague Czech Republic
- Institute for Advanced Study; Paris France
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Bučková J, Černý V, Novelletto A. Multiple and differentiated contributions to the male gene pool of pastoral and farmer populations of the African Sahel. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 151:10-21. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2012] [Accepted: 01/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jana Bučková
- Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science; Charles University; Prague; Czech Republic
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
32
|
Verdu P, Becker NSA, Froment A, Georges M, Grugni V, Quintana-Murci L, Hombert JM, Van der Veen L, Le Bomin S, Bahuchet S, Heyer E, Austerlitz F. Sociocultural behavior, sex-biased admixture, and effective population sizes in Central African Pygmies and non-Pygmies. Mol Biol Evol 2013; 30:918-37. [PMID: 23300254 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/mss328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Sociocultural phenomena, such as exogamy or phylopatry, can largely determine human sex-specific demography. In Central Africa, diverging patterns of sex-specific genetic variation have been observed between mobile hunter-gatherer Pygmies and sedentary agricultural non-Pygmies. However, their sex-specific demography remains largely unknown. Using population genetics and approximate Bayesian computation approaches, we inferred male and female effective population sizes, sex-specific migration, and admixture rates in 23 Central African Pygmy and non-Pygmy populations, genotyped for autosomal, X-linked, Y-linked, and mitochondrial markers. We found much larger effective population sizes and migration rates among non-Pygmy populations than among Pygmies, in agreement with the recent expansions and migrations of non-Pygmies and, conversely, the isolation and stationary demography of Pygmy groups. We found larger effective sizes and migration rates for males than for females for Pygmies, and vice versa for non-Pygmies. Thus, although most Pygmy populations have patrilocal customs, their sex-specific genetic patterns resemble those of matrilocal populations. In fact, our results are consistent with a lower prevalence of polygyny and patrilocality in Pygmies compared with non-Pygmies and a potential female transmission of reproductive success in Pygmies. Finally, Pygmy populations showed variable admixture levels with the non-Pygmies, with often much larger introgression from male than from female lineages. Social discrimination against Pygmies triggering complex movements of spouses in intermarriages can explain these male-biased admixture patterns in a patrilocal context. We show how gender-related sociocultural phenomena can determine highly variable sex-specific demography among populations, and how population genetic approaches contrasting chromosomal types allow inferring detailed human sex-specific demographic history.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Verdu
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
33
|
The genetic landscape of Equatorial Guinea and the origin and migration routes of the Y chromosome haplogroup R-V88. Eur J Hum Genet 2012; 21:324-31. [PMID: 22892526 DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Human Y chromosomes belonging to the haplogroup R1b1-P25, although very common in Europe, are usually rare in Africa. However, recently published studies have reported high frequencies of this haplogroup in the central-western region of the African continent and proposed that this represents a 'back-to-Africa' migration during prehistoric times. To obtain a deeper insight into the history of these lineages, we characterised the paternal genetic background of a population in Equatorial Guinea, a Central-West African country located near the region in which the highest frequencies of the R1b1 haplogroup in Africa have been found to date. In our sample, the large majority (78.6%) of the sequences belong to subclades in haplogroup E, which are the most frequent in Bantu groups. However, the frequency of the R1b1 haplogroup in our sample (17.0%) was higher than that previously observed for the majority of the African continent. Of these R1b1 samples, nine are defined by the V88 marker, which was recently discovered in Africa. As high microsatellite variance was found inside this haplogroup in Central-West Africa and a decrease in this variance was observed towards Northeast Africa, our findings do not support the previously hypothesised movement of Chadic-speaking people from the North across the Sahara as the explanation for these R1b1 lineages in Central-West Africa. The present findings are also compatible with an origin of the V88-derived allele in the Central-West Africa, and its presence in North Africa may be better explained as the result of a migration from the south during the mid-Holocene.
Collapse
|
34
|
Fernandes V, Alshamali F, Alves M, Costa MD, Pereira JB, Silva NM, Cherni L, Harich N, Cerny V, Soares P, Richards MB, Pereira L. The Arabian cradle: mitochondrial relicts of the first steps along the southern route out of Africa. Am J Hum Genet 2012; 90:347-55. [PMID: 22284828 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2011] [Revised: 12/11/2011] [Accepted: 12/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A major unanswered question regarding the dispersal of modern humans around the world concerns the geographical site of the first human steps outside of Africa. The "southern coastal route" model predicts that the early stages of the dispersal took place when people crossed the Red Sea to southern Arabia, but genetic evidence has hitherto been tenuous. We have addressed this question by analyzing the three minor west-Eurasian haplogroups, N1, N2, and X. These lineages branch directly from the first non-African founder node, the root of haplogroup N, and coalesce to the time of the first successful movement of modern humans out of Africa, ∼60 thousand years (ka) ago. We sequenced complete mtDNA genomes from 85 Southwest Asian samples carrying these haplogroups and compared them with a database of 300 European examples. The results show that these minor haplogroups have a relict distribution that suggests an ancient ancestry within the Arabian Peninsula, and they most likely spread from the Gulf Oasis region toward the Near East and Europe during the pluvial period 55-24 ka ago. This pattern suggests that Arabia was indeed the first staging post in the spread of modern humans around the world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Verónica Fernandes
- Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|