A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2014 Feb 18

PMID 24531965

Citations 358

Authors

Garrett Hellenthal

George B J Busby

Gavin Band

James F Wilson

Cristian Capelli

Daniel Falush

Simon Myers

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Modern genetic data combined with appropriate statistical methods have the potential to contribute substantially to our understanding of human history. We have developed an approach that exploits the genomic structure of admixed populations to date and characterize historical mixture events at fine scales. We used this to produce an atlas of worldwide human admixture history, constructed by using genetic data alone and encompassing over 100 events occurring over the past 4000 years. We identified events whose dates and participants suggest they describe genetic impacts of the Mongol empire, Arab slave trade, Bantu expansion, first millennium CE migrations in Eastern Europe, and European colonialism, as well as unrecorded events, revealing admixture to be an almost universal force shaping human populations.

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