Inferences of African evolutionary history from genomic data

Marcia Holsbach Beltrame; Meagan A Rubel; Sarah A Tishkoff

doi:10.1016/j.gde.2016.10.002

Inferences of African evolutionary history from genomic data

Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2016 Dec:41:159-166. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2016.10.002. Epub 2016 Nov 1.

Authors

Marcia Holsbach Beltrame¹, Meagan A Rubel², Sarah A Tishkoff³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
² Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
³ Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

Africa is the origin of anatomically modern humans and a continent of linguistic, cultural, environmental, phenotypic, and genetic diversity. However, African populations remain underrepresented in genetic studies, which have largely focused on individuals with European and Asian ancestry. The expansion of high-throughput 'omic' technologies to interrogate multiple tissue types across many biomolecules-DNA, proteins, epigenetic modifications, metabolites, and others-has heralded a new era of investigation into African history. In this review, we summarize how some of these recent advances have been applied to contemporary sub-Saharan African populations to inform studies on human origins and adaptation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Africa
Black People / genetics*
Evolution, Molecular*
Genetic Variation*
Genetics, Population
Genomics
Humans
Phylogeny

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding