The role of geography in human adaptation.

Various observations argue for a role of adaptation in recent human evolution, including results from genome-wide studies and analyses of selection signals at candidate genes. Here, we use genome-wide SNP data from the HapMap and CEPH-Human Genome Diversity Panel samples to study the geographic dist...

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Main Authors: Graham Coop, Joseph K Pickrell, John Novembre, Sridhar Kudaravalli, Jun Li, Devin Absher, Richard M Myers, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Marcus W Feldman, Jonathan K Pritchard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009-06-01
Series:PLoS Genetics
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000500&type=printable
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author Graham Coop
Joseph K Pickrell
John Novembre
Sridhar Kudaravalli
Jun Li
Devin Absher
Richard M Myers
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
Marcus W Feldman
Jonathan K Pritchard
author_facet Graham Coop
Joseph K Pickrell
John Novembre
Sridhar Kudaravalli
Jun Li
Devin Absher
Richard M Myers
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
Marcus W Feldman
Jonathan K Pritchard
author_sort Graham Coop
collection DOAJ
description Various observations argue for a role of adaptation in recent human evolution, including results from genome-wide studies and analyses of selection signals at candidate genes. Here, we use genome-wide SNP data from the HapMap and CEPH-Human Genome Diversity Panel samples to study the geographic distributions of putatively selected alleles at a range of geographic scales. We find that the average allele frequency divergence is highly predictive of the most extreme F(ST) values across the whole genome. On a broad scale, the geographic distribution of putatively selected alleles almost invariably conforms to population clusters identified using randomly chosen genetic markers. Given this structure, there are surprisingly few fixed or nearly fixed differences between human populations. Among the nearly fixed differences that do exist, nearly all are due to fixation events that occurred outside of Africa, and most appear in East Asia. These patterns suggest that selection is often weak enough that neutral processes -- especially population history, migration, and drift -- exert powerful influences over the fate and geographic distribution of selected alleles.
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publishDate 2009-06-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-ac9f30ac2bf845da9b3a73d08406237b2025-08-20T02:17:24ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042009-06-0156e100050010.1371/journal.pgen.1000500The role of geography in human adaptation.Graham CoopJoseph K PickrellJohn NovembreSridhar KudaravalliJun LiDevin AbsherRichard M MyersLuigi Luca Cavalli-SforzaMarcus W FeldmanJonathan K PritchardVarious observations argue for a role of adaptation in recent human evolution, including results from genome-wide studies and analyses of selection signals at candidate genes. Here, we use genome-wide SNP data from the HapMap and CEPH-Human Genome Diversity Panel samples to study the geographic distributions of putatively selected alleles at a range of geographic scales. We find that the average allele frequency divergence is highly predictive of the most extreme F(ST) values across the whole genome. On a broad scale, the geographic distribution of putatively selected alleles almost invariably conforms to population clusters identified using randomly chosen genetic markers. Given this structure, there are surprisingly few fixed or nearly fixed differences between human populations. Among the nearly fixed differences that do exist, nearly all are due to fixation events that occurred outside of Africa, and most appear in East Asia. These patterns suggest that selection is often weak enough that neutral processes -- especially population history, migration, and drift -- exert powerful influences over the fate and geographic distribution of selected alleles.https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000500&type=printable
spellingShingle Graham Coop
Joseph K Pickrell
John Novembre
Sridhar Kudaravalli
Jun Li
Devin Absher
Richard M Myers
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
Marcus W Feldman
Jonathan K Pritchard
The role of geography in human adaptation.
PLoS Genetics
title The role of geography in human adaptation.
title_full The role of geography in human adaptation.
title_fullStr The role of geography in human adaptation.
title_full_unstemmed The role of geography in human adaptation.
title_short The role of geography in human adaptation.
title_sort role of geography in human adaptation
url https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000500&type=printable
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