小柯机器人

美国哈佛医学院Mary E. Prendergast，David Reich，Mark Lipson和耶鲁大学Jessica C. Thompson以及加拿大阿尔伯塔大学Elizabeth A. Sawchuk多个团队共同合作取得重要进展。他们发现了撒哈拉以南非洲觅食者的古代DNA和深层种群结构。该项研究成果在线发表于2022年2月23日出版的《自然》杂志上。

在这里，研究人员展示了来自非洲东部和中南部的6个个体的全基因组古DNA数据，时间跨度约为18000年（是撒哈拉以南非洲古代 DNA 时间深度的两倍），提高了以前公布的15个古个体的数据质量，并将这些数据与其他13个公布的古个体的数据一起进行分析。他们研究区域中个体的祖先可以被模拟为三个高度不同的来源种群的地理结构混合物，可能反映了大约 8-2 万年前更新世互动，包括深度分化的东部和南部非洲血统，以及以前未被重视的祖先分布（如今在非洲中部雨林的狩猎采集者中出现的比例最高）。一旦建立，这种结构保持高度稳定，远程基因流动有限。

这些结果提供了一条新的遗传证据，支持从考古分析中出现但仍然存在争议的假设，这表明在更新世末期，区域化程度不断提高。

据介绍，多条遗传和考古证据表明，在撒哈拉以南非洲的晚更新世末期和全新世早期出现了重大的人口变化。由于过去 5,000 年的人口变化掩盖了更古老的人口结构，因此很难对这一时期做出推论。

附：英文原文

Title: Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers

Author: Lipson, Mark, Sawchuk, Elizabeth A., Thompson, Jessica C., Oppenheimer, Jonas, Tryon, Christian A., Ranhorn, Kathryn L., de Luna, Kathryn M., Sirak, Kendra A., Olalde, Iigo, Ambrose, Stanley H., Arthur, John W., Arthur, Kathryn J. W., Ayodo, George, Bertacchi, Alex, Cerezo-Romn, Jessica I., Culleton, Brendan J., Curtis, Matthew C., Davis, Jacob, Gidna, Agness O., Hanson, Annalys, Kaliba, Potiphar, Katongo, Maggie, Kwekason, Amandus, Laird, Myra F., Lewis, Jason, Mabulla, Audax Z. P., Mapemba, Fredrick, Morris, Alan, Mudenda, George, Mwafulirwa, Raphael, Mwangomba, Daudi, Ndiema, Emmanuel, Ogola, Christine, Schilt, Flora, Willoughby, Pamela R., Wright, David K., Zipkin, Andrew, Pinhasi, Ron, Kennett, Douglas J., Manthi, Fredrick Kyalo, Rohland, Nadin, Patterson, Nick, Reich, David, Prendergast, Mary E.

Issue&Volume: 2022-02-23

Abstract: Multiple lines of genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal Late Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa1,2,3,4. Inferences about this period are challenging to make because demographic shifts in the past 5,000 years have obscured the structures of more ancient populations3,5. Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years (doubling the time depth of sub-Saharan African ancient DNA), increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyse these alongside data from 13 other published ancient individuals. The ancestry of the individuals in our study area can be modelled as a geographically structured mixture of three highly divergent source populations, probably reflecting Pleistocene interactions around 80–20 thousand years ago, including deeply diverged eastern and southern African lineages, plus a previously unappreciated ubiquitous distribution of ancestry that occurs in highest proportion today in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers. Once established, this structure remained highly stable, with limited long-range gene flow. These results provide a new line of genetic evidence in support of hypotheses that have emerged from archaeological analyses but remain contested, suggesting increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene epoch.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04430-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04430-9

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
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