当前位置:科学网首页 > 小柯机器人 >详情
科学家揭示中东的基因组历史
作者:小柯机器人 发布时间:2021/8/8 13:02:15

近日,英国威康桑格研究所Mohamed A. Almarri、伯明翰大学Marc Haber等研究人员合作揭示中东的基因组历史。这一研究成果于2021年8月4日在线发表在国际学术期刊《细胞》上。

研究人员使用连接读数测序法从8个中东人群中产生了137个高覆盖率的物理相位基因组序列。研究人员在现今的人群中没有发现非洲以外早期扩张的遗传痕迹,但发现阿拉伯人有升高的基础欧亚血统,这稀释了他们的尼安德特血统。该地区的人口规模在1.5-2万年开始分化,当时黎凡特人扩张,而阿拉伯人保持着较小的人口,其祖先来自当地的狩猎采集者。

阿拉伯人在6千多年前阿拉伯干旱化前后遭遇了人口瓶颈,而黎凡特人在4200多年前的干旱化事件中出现了明显的瓶颈。研究人员发现该地区人口的迁移和混杂与闪族语言的传播之间存在关联。最后,研究人员确定了表现出选择证据的变体,包括多基因选择。这些结果提供了对中东地区基因组和选择历史的详细见解。

据悉,中东地区对了解人类进化和迁徙非常重要,但在基因组研究中的代表性不足。

附:英文原文

Title: The genomic history of the Middle East

Author: Mohamed A. Almarri, Marc Haber, Reem A. Lootah, Pille Hallast, Saeed Al Turki, Hilary C. Martin, Yali Xue, Chris Tyler-Smith

Issue&Volume: 2021-08-04

Abstract: The Middle East region is important to understand human evolution and migrations but is underrepresented in genomic studies. Here, we generated 137 high-coverage physically phased genome sequences from eight Middle Eastern populations using linked-read sequencing. We found no genetic traces of early expansions out-of-Africa in present-day populations but found Arabians have elevated Basal Eurasian ancestry that dilutes their Neanderthal ancestry. Population sizes within the region started diverging 15–20 kya, when Levantines expanded while Arabians maintained smaller populations that derived ancestry from local hunter-gatherers. Arabians suffered a population bottleneck around the aridification of Arabia 6 kya, while Levantines had a distinct bottleneck overlapping the 4.2 kya aridification event. We found an association between movement and admixture of populations in the region and the spread of Semitic languages. Finally, we identify variants that show evidence of selection, including polygenic selection. Our results provide detailed insights into the genomic and selective histories of the Middle East.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.013

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00839-4

期刊信息
Cell:《细胞》,创刊于1974年。隶属于细胞出版社,最新IF:36.216
官方网址:https://www.cell.com/