Transmission of migration propensity increases genetic divergence between populations

Bibliographic Data

ID8317166
AuthorsAlain Gagnon (0000-0002-6758-9716, Western University, corresponding author), Bruno Toupance (0000-0002-8244-1824, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Marc Tremblay, Marc Adélard Tremblay (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Jan Beise (0009-0004-2143-6978, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research), Evelyne Heyer (0000-0002-0266-3196, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Year2006
Volume129
Issue4
Pages630-636
Publication date2006-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.20330
PMID16342261
OpenAlexW2170768698
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited47

The advent of molecular genetics has brought invaluable information, which is now routinely used by anthropologists in their attempt to reconstruct our demographic past. Since mitochondrial DNA loci are much more similar between populations than are Y‐chromosome loci, it is suggested that women had a much higher migration rate than men throughout history. Based on an examination of intergenerational migration patterns in three large demographic databases, we bring this inference into question. In some early Canadian settlements (St. Lawrence Valley and Saguenay), and in the former Krummhörn region of northwest Germany, men whose fathers were migrants were more likely to migrate, while the migration probability of women was largely independent of that of their mothers. As a result, men's movements were less effective in preventing genetic differentiation between populations than women's movements. In order to account for the impact of transmission, we propose a slight modification of Wright's island model. We also address the relevance of this model at the regional scale, and we discuss the supporting historical and anthropological literature. We conclude that the widespread patrilocal rules of postmarital residence have generated both a higher female migration rate and a patrilineal dependency in the propensity to migrate. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Archaeology · Biology · Demographic history · Divergence (linguistics) · Ethnology · Evolutionary biology · Genealogy · Genetic variation · Geography · Human settlement · Inference · Inheritance (genetic algorithm) · Population · Population genetics · Residence · Sociology · Wright · Demography · Forensic and Genetic Research · Genetic diversity and population structure · Genetics · History · Race, Genetics, and Society