Molecular adaptation of modern human populations.

ABSTRACT: Modern humans have gone through varied processes of genetic adaptations when their ancestors left Africa about 100,000 years ago. The environmental stresses and the social transitions (e.g., emergence of the Neolithic culture) have been acting as the major selective forces reshaping the genetic make-up of human populations. Genetic adaptations have occurred in many aspects of human life, including the adaptation to cold climate and high-altitude hypoxia, the improved ability of defending infectious diseases, and the polished strategy of utilizing new diet with the advent of agriculture. At the same time, the adaptations once developed during evolution may sometimes generate deleterious effects (e.g., susceptibility to diseases) when facing new environmental and social changes. The molecula

SUBMITTER: Shi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3039432 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature