Small Traditional Human Communities Sustain Genomic Diversity over Microgeographic Scales despite Linguistic Isolation
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Mol Biol Evol-2016-Cox-2273-84.pdf
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Author
Cox, Murray P.Hudjashov, Georgi
Sim, Andre
Savina, Olga
Karafet, Tatiana M.
Sudoyo, Herawati
Lansing, J. Stephen
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, ARL Div BiotechnolIssue Date
2016-06-07
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OXFORD UNIV PRESSCitation
Mol. Biol. Evol. 33(9):2273–2284 doi:10.1093/molbev/msw099Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONRights
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
At least since the Neolithic, humans have largely lived in networks of small, traditional communities. Often socially isolated, these groups evolved distinct languages and cultures over microgeographic scales of just tens of kilometers. Population genetic theory tells us that genetic drift should act quickly in such isolated groups, thus raising the question: do networks of small human communitiesmaintain levels of genetic diversity over microgeographic scales? This question can no longer be asked in most parts of the world, which have been heavily impacted by historical events that make traditional society structures the exception. However, such studies remain possible in parts of Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, where traditional ways of life are still practiced. We captured genome-wide genetic data, together with linguistic records, for a case-study system-eight villages distributed across Sumba, a small, remote island in eastern Indonesia. More than 4,000 years after these communities were established during the Neolithic period, most speak different languages and can be distinguished genetically. Yet their nuclear diversity is not reduced, instead being comparable to other, evenmuch larger, regional groups. Modeling reveals a separation of time scales: while languages and culture can evolve quickly, creating social barriers, sporadic migration averaged over many generations is sufficient to keep villages linked genetically. This loosely-connected network structure, once the global norm and still extant on Sumba today, provides a living proxy to explore fine-scale genome dynamics in the sort of small traditional communities within which the most recent episodes of human evolution occurred.Note
Open access.ISSN
0737-4038PubMed ID
27274003Version
Final published versionSponsors
Nanyang Technological University; Singapore Ministry of Education; Royal Society of New Zealand [RDF-10-MAU-001]; NEFREX - European Union [318979]Additional Links
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/9/2273ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/molbev/msw099
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
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