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Human demographic history: refining the recent African origin model.
1Computational and Molecular Population Genetics (CMPG) Lab, Zoological Institute, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland. Laurent.Exoffier@zoo.unibe.ch
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
|November 16, 2002
Summary
Modern humans originated recently from Africa, expanding outwards after a population bottleneck. Molecular diversity patterns suggest balancing selection is more common than positive selection in human gene coding regions.
Area of Science:
- Human evolutionary genetics
- Population genomics
Background:
- Large-scale human genome studies provide insights into modern human origins.
- Evidence suggests a recent origin from an African ancestral population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of selection in shaping human genetic diversity.
- To compare the prevalence of balancing versus positive selection in coding regions.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of extensive human genome data.
- Examination of molecular diversity patterns.
Main Results:
- Findings support a recent expansion of modern humans out of Africa following a bottleneck.
- Molecular diversity data indicate balancing selection is more prevalent than positive selection in coding regions.
Conclusions:
- The simple model of recent African origin and expansion is consistent with genomic data.
- Balancing selection may play a significant role in human evolution within coding regions.