Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavante Indians.

ABSTRACT: Shifts in social structure and cultural practices can potentially promote unusual combinations of allele frequencies that drive the evolution of genetic and phenotypic novelties during human evolution. These cultural practices act in combination with geographical and linguistic barriers and can promote faster evolutionary changes shaped by gene-culture interactions. However, specific cases indicative of this interaction are scarce. Here we show that quantitative genetic parameters obtained from cephalometric data taken on 1,203 individuals analyzed in combination with genetic, climatic, social, and life-history data belonging to six South Amerindian populations are compatible with a scenario of rapid genetic and phenotypic evolution, probably mediated by cultural shifts. We found that the

SUBMITTER: Hunemeier T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3252904 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature