Recombination gives a new insight in the effective population size and history of the Old World human populations
Date
2012
Authors
Mele, M.
Javed, A.
Pybus, M.
Zalloua, P.
Haber, M.
Comas, D.
Netea, M.
Balanovsky, O.
Balanovska, E.
Jin, L.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2012; 29(1):25-30
Statement of Responsibility
Marta Melé, Asif Javed, Marc Pybus, Pierre Zalloua, Marc Haber, David Comas, Mihai G. Netea, Oleg Balanovsky, Elena Balanovska, Li Jin, Yajun Yang, R. M. Pitchappan, G. Arunkumar, Laxmi Parida, Francesc Calafell, Jaume Bertranpetit, and the Genographic Consortium
Conference Name
Abstract
The information left by recombination in our genomes can be used to make inferences on our recent evolutionary history. Specifically, the number of past recombination events in a population sample is a function of its effective population size (Ne). We have applied a method, Identifying Recombination in Sequences (IRiS), to detect specific past recombination events in 30 Old World populations to infer their Ne. We have found that sub-Saharan African populations have an Ne that is approximately four times greater than those of non-African populations and that outside of Africa, South Asian populations had the largest Ne. We also observe that the patterns of recombinational diversity of these populations correlate with distance out of Africa if that distance is measured along a path crossing South Arabia. No such correlation is found through a Sinai route, suggesting that anatomically modern humans first left Africa through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait rather than through present Egypt.
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Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Christina J. Adler, Alan Cooper, Clio S. I. Der Sarkissian and Wolfgang Haak are members of the Genographic Consortium
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© The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution