Search results for "population genetics."
showing 10 items of 248 documents
The population genomics of archaeological transition in west Iberia: Investigation of ancient substructure using imputation and haplotype-based metho…
2017
We analyse new genomic data (0.05–2.95x) from 14 ancient individuals from Portugal distributed from the Middle Neolithic (4200–3500 BC) to the Middle Bronze Age (1740–1430 BC) and impute genomewide diploid genotypes in these together with published ancient Eurasians. While discontinuity is evident in the transition to agriculture across the region, sensitive haplotype-based analyses suggest a significant degree of local hunter-gatherer contribution to later Iberian Neolithic populations. A more subtle genetic influx is also apparent in the Bronze Age, detectable from analyses including haplotype sharing with both ancient and modern genomes, D-statistics and Y-chromosome lineages. However, t…
Shared language, diverging genetic histories: high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variability in Calabrian and Sicilian Arbereshe.
2015
The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investi…
Microevolution of bank voles (Myodes glareolus) at neutral and immune-related genes during multiannual dynamic cycles: consequences for Puumala hanta…
2017
ABSTRACTUnderstanding how host dynamics, including variations of population size and dispersal, may affect the epidemiology of infectious diseases through ecological and evolutionary processes is an active research area. Here we focus on a bank vole (Myodes glareolus) metapopulation surveyed in Finland between 2005 and 2009. Bank vole is the reservoir of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), the agent of nephropathia epidemica (NE, a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal symptom) in humans.M glareoluspopulations experience multiannual density fluctuations that may influence the level of genetic diversity maintained in bank voles, PUUV prevalence and NE occurrence. We examine bank vole metapopulati…
The spread of steppe and Iranian-related ancestry in the islands of the western Mediterranean
2020
Steppe-pastoralist-related ancestry reached Central Europe by at least 2500 bc, whereas Iranian farmer-related ancestry was present in Aegean Europe by at least 1900 bc. However, the spread of these ancestries into the western Mediterranean, where they have contributed to many populations that live today, remains poorly understood. Here, we generated genome-wide ancient-DNA data from the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Sardinia, increasing the number of individuals with reported data from 5 to 66. The oldest individual from the Balearic Islands (~2400 bc) carried ancestry from steppe pastoralists that probably derived from west-to-east migration from Iberia, although two later Balearic individ…
Ancient European dog genomes reveal continuity since the Early Neolithic
2017
Europe has played a major role in dog evolution, harbouring the oldest uncontested Palaeolithic remains and having been the centre of modern dog breed creation. Here we sequence the genomes of an Early and End Neolithic dog from Germany, including a sample associated with an early European farming community. Both dogs demonstrate continuity with each other and predominantly share ancestry with modern European dogs, contradicting a previously suggested Late Neolithic population replacement. We find no genetic evidence to support the recent hypothesis proposing dual origins of dog domestication. By calibrating the mutation rate using our oldest dog, we narrow the timing of dog domestication t…
Population Genetics of Latvians in the Context of Admixture between North-Eastern European Ethnic Groups
2018
Abstract This article presents a review on population genetics of Latvians, which alongside Lithuanians are the two extant Baltic speaking populations. The article provides a description of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and contains a comparative analysis of the results of studies performed on classical autosomal genetic markers, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining part of the Y chromosome (NRY), with data on neighbouring populations. The study also covers data of recently performed ancient DNA (aDNA) studies carried out on samples from the territory of today’s Latvia. The results of population genetic studies have shown a mixture of eastern and western…
Genetic tools discriminate strains of Leishmania infantum isolated from humans and dogs in Sicily, Italy
2020
Background Leishmaniasis is one of the most important vector-borne diseases and it represents a serious world health problem affecting millions of people. High levels of Leishmania infections, affecting both humans and animals, are recognized among Italian regions. Among these, Sicily has one of the highest prevalence of Leishmania infection. Methodology/Principal Findings Seventy-eight Leishmania strains isolated from human and animal samples across Sicily, were analyzed for the polymorphic k26-gene and genotypes were assigned according to the size of the PCR products. A multilocus microsatellite typing (MLMT) approach based on the analysis of 11 independent loci was used to investigate po…
The Neolithic Transition in the Baltic Was Not Driven by Admixture with Early European Farmers
2017
Summary The Neolithic transition was a dynamic time in European prehistory of cultural, social, and technological change. Although this period has been well explored in central Europe using ancient nuclear DNA [1, 2], its genetic impact on northern and eastern parts of this continent has not been as extensively studied. To broaden our understanding of the Neolithic transition across Europe, we analyzed eight ancient genomes: six samples (four to ∼1- to 4-fold coverage) from a 3,500 year temporal transect (∼8,300–4,800 calibrated years before present) through the Baltic region dating from the Mesolithic to the Late Neolithic and two samples spanning the Mesolithic-Neolithic boundary from the…
Genomic characterization of the Braque Français type Pyrénées dog and relationship with other breeds
2018
The evaluation of genetic variability is a useful research tool for the correct management of selection and conservation strategies in dog breeds. In addition to pedigree genealogies, genomic data allow a deeper knowledge of the variability and genetic structure of populations. To date, many dog breeds, such as small regional breeds, still remain uncharacterized. Braque Français type Pyrénées (BRA) is a dog breed originating from a very old type of gun-dog used for pointing the location of game birds to hunters. Despite the ancient background, the knowledge about levels of genetic diversity, degree of inbreeding and population structure is scarce. This may raise concerns on the possibility …
New insights on water buffalo genomic diversity and post-domestication migration routes from medium density SNP chip data
2018
Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T16:52:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-03-02 The domestic water buffalo is native to the Asian continent but through historical migrations and recent importations, nowadays has a worldwide distribution. The two types of water buffalo, i.e., river and swamp, display distinct morphological and behavioral traits, different karyotypes and also have different purposes and geographical distributions. River buffaloes from Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Mozambique, Brazil and Colombia, and swamp buffaloes from China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil were genotyped with a species-specific medium-dens…