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Using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers to reconstruct human evolution
Author(s) -
Jorde Lynn B.,
Bamshad Michael,
Rogers Alan R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-1878(199802)20:2<126::aid-bies5>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - mitochondrial dna , biology , evolutionary biology , nuclear gene , genetic diversity , natural selection , gene flow , population , nuclear dna , selection (genetic algorithm) , human evolution , effective population size , gene pool , genetics , gene , genetic variation , demography , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science
Molecular genetic data have greatly improved our ability to test hypotheses about human evolution. During the past decade, a large amount of nuclear and mitochondrial data have been collected from diverse human populations. Taken together, these data indicate that modern humans are a relatively young species. African populations show the largest amount of genetic diversity, and they are the most genetically divergent population. Modern human populations expanded in size first on the African continent. These findings support a recent African origin of modern humans, but this conclusion should be tempered by the possible effects of factors such as gene flow, population size differences, and natural selection. BioEssays 20:126–136, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.