Open AccessGlobal genetic positioning: Evidence for early human population centers in coastal habitats
Author(s) -
William Amos,
Andrea Manica
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.0507991103
Subject(s) - globe , geography , population , evolutionary biology , identification (biology) , perspective (graphical) , genetic genealogy , human evolution , allele frequency , 1000 genomes project , allele , demography , ecology , biology , genealogy , genetics , history , single nucleotide polymorphism , sociology , genotype , computer science , gene , neuroscience , artificial intelligence
For an alternative perspective on relationships among human populations, we combined genetic and geographic information, using allele frequency gradients to place populations and individuals on the globe. Reanalyzing published data on 51 worldwide populations [Rosenberg, N. A., Pritchard, J. K., Weber, J. L., Cann, H. M., Kidd, K. K., Zhivitovsky, L. A. & Feldman, M. W. (2002)Science 298, 2381–2385] reveals five geographic clusters lying in plausible sites either of early agricultural innovation or on ancient migration routes. Also, the inferred sites show significant association with coastlines, suggesting that most early humans lived near large bodies of water. Our approach is flexible, and developments should prove useful both for exploring historical demography and for the identification of likely origin for unknown forensic samples.