Recent acceleration of human adaptive evolution

Bibliographic Data

ID23323909
AuthorsJohn Hawks (0000-0003-3187-3755, *Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;), Eric T Wang (0000-0003-2655-5525, Department of Algorithm Development and Data Analysis, Affymetrix, Inc., Santa Clara, CA 95051), Gregory Cochran (University of Utah), Gregory M Cochran (Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; and), Henry C Harpending (Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; and), Henry Harpending (University of Utah), Robert K Moyzis (Department of Biological Chemistry and Institute of Genomics and Bioinformatics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume104
Issue52
Pages20753-20758
Publication date2007-12-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0027-8424 • E-ISSN: 1091-6490
PublisherNational Academy of Sciences (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1073/pnas.0707650104
PMID18087044
PMCIDPMC2410101
OpenAlexW2013786537
LanguageEN
Citations received102
References cited56

Genomic surveys in humans identify a large amount of recent positive selection. Using the 3.9-million HapMap SNP dataset, we found that selection has accelerated greatly during the last 40,000 years. We tested the null hypothesis that the observed age distribution of recent positively selected linkage blocks is consistent with a constant rate of adaptive substitution during human evolution. We show that a constant rate high enough to explain the number of recently selected variants would predict ( i ) site heterozygosity at least 10-fold lower than is observed in humans, ( ii ) a strong relationship of heterozygosity and local recombination rate, which is not observed in humans, ( iii ) an implausibly high number of adaptive substitutions between humans and chimpanzees, and ( iv ) nearly 100 times the observed number of high-frequency linkage disequilibrium blocks. Larger populations generate more new selected mutations, and we show the consistency of the observed data with the historical pattern of human population growth. We consider human demographic growth to be linked with past changes in human cultures and ecologies. Both processes have contributed to the extraordinarily rapid recent genetic evolution of our species.

Adaptation (eye) · Adaptive evolution · Allele · Biology · Effective population size · Evolutionary biology · Gene · Genetic variation · Haplotype · Human evolution · International HapMap Project · Linkage Disequilibrium · Loss of heterozygosity · Mutation rate · Population · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Genetic Associations and Epidemiology · Genetics · RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access