The role of genetic selection and climatic factors in the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out of Africa.

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Date

2023

Authors

Tobler, R.
Souilmi, Y.
Huber, C.D.
Bean, N.
Turney, C.S.M.
Grey, S.T.
Cooper, A.

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Journal article

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 2023; 120(22):e2213061120-e2213061120

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Raymond Tobler, Yassine Souilmi, Christian D. Huber, and Alan Cooper

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DOI

10.1073/pnas.2213061120

Abstract

The evolutionarily recent dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa (OoA) and across Eurasia provides a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of genetic selection as humans adapted to multiple new environments. Analysis of ancient Eurasian genomic datasets (~1,000 to 45,000 y old) reveals signatures of strong selection, including at least 57 hard sweeps after the initial AMH movement OoA, which have been obscured in modern populations by extensive admixture during the Holocene. The spatiotemporal patterns of these hard sweeps provide a means to reconstruct early AMH population dispersals OoA. We identify a previously unsuspected extended period of genetic adaptation lasting ~30,000 y, potentially in the Arabian Peninsula area, prior to a major Neandertal genetic introgression and subsequent rapid dispersal across Eurasia as far as Australia. Consistent functional targets of selection initiated during this period, which we term the Arabian Standstill, include loci involved in the regulation of fat storage, neural development, skin physiology, and cilia function. Similar adaptive signatures are also evident in introgressed archaic hominin loci and modern Arctic human groups, and we suggest that this signal represents selection for cold adaptation. Surprisingly, many of the candidate selected loci across these groups appear to directly interact and coordinately regulate biological processes, with a number associated with major modern diseases including the ciliopathies, metabolic syndrome, and neurodegenerative disorders. This expands the potential for ancestral human adaptation to directly impact modern diseases, providing a platform for evolutionary medicine.

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© 2023 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).

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http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE190101069
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190103705
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FL140100260
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100883
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE140100049
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/GNT1189235
 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/GNT1140691

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https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213061120

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https://hdl.handle.net/2440/138662