A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History

Garrett Hellenthal, George B. J. Busby, Gavin Band, James F. Wilson, Cristian Capelli, Daniel Falush, Simon Myers*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)747-751
Number of pages5
JournalScience
Volume343
Issue number6172
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Feb 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • MULTILOCUS GENOTYPE DATA
  • HUMAN-POPULATIONS
  • GENOME SEQUENCES
  • INFERENCE
  • MONGOLS

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