A new understanding of human origins in Africa
There is broad agreement that Homo sapiens originated in Africa. But there remain many uncertainties and competing theories about where, when, and how.
In a paper published today in , an international research team led by 成人VR视频 and the University of California-Davis suggest that, based on contemporary genomic evidence from across the continent, there were humans living in different regions of Africa, migrating from one region to another and mixing with one another over a period of hundreds of thousands of years. This view runs counter to some of the dominant theories about human origins in Africa.
Competing theories about human origins in Africa
One theory holds that, about 150,000 years ago, there was a single central ancestral population in Africa from which other populations diverged. Another suggests that this central ancestral population was the result of the mixing of modern humans with a Neanderthal-like hominins (human-like beings), resulting in a leap forward in human evolution, as has been suggested took place in Eurasia.
鈥淎t different times, people who embraced the classic model of a single origin for Homo sapiens suggested that humans first emerged in either East or Southern Africa,鈥� says , a population geneticist in the Department of Anthropology and in the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis and co-lead author of the research. 鈥淏ut it has been difficult to reconcile these theories with the limited fossil and archaeological records of human occupation from sites as far afield as Morocco, Ethiopia, and South Africa which show that Homo sapiens were to be found living across the continent as far back as at least 300,000 years ago.鈥�
So, the research team took a different approach.
Contemporary genomic evidence tells a different story
In the first systematic test of these competing anthropological models against genetic data, the team worked backwards from contemporary genomic material of 290 individuals from four geographically and genetically diverse African groups to trace the similarities and differences between the populations over the past million years and gain insight into the genetic interconnections and human evolution across the continent.
The groups were the Nama (Khoe-San from South Africa); the Mende (from Sierra Leone); the Gumuz (recent descendants of a hunter-gatherer group from Ethiopia); and the Amhara and Oromo (agriculturalists from eastern Africa). The researchers also included some Eurasian genetic material to include the traces of colonial incursions and mixing in Africa.
鈥淲e used a new algorithm to rapidly test hundreds of possible scenarios. Those with gene flow back and forth between populations in various parts of the continent over the course of hundreds of thousands of years provided a much better explanation of the genetic variation we see today,鈥� adds Simon Gravel, Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at 成人VR视频, and co-senior author on the paper. 鈥淲e wrote this algorithm to understand how genetic disease risk varies across populations, and it led us to this deep dive into human origins. It鈥檚 been really fun to tie applied and fundamental research together in this way.鈥�
About the study
鈥溾�� by Aaron Ragsdale et al was published in Nature.
About 成人VR视频
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, 成人VR视频 is Canada鈥檚 top ranked medical doctoral university. 成人VR视频 is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning three campuses, 12 faculties, 14 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 39,000 students, including more than 10,400 graduate students. 成人VR视频 attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% of the student body. Over half of 成人VR视频 students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.
