Ethiopian genetic diversity reveals linguistic stratification and complex influences on the Ethiopian gene pool.

ABSTRACT: Humans and their ancestors have traversed the Ethiopian landscape for millions of years, and present-day Ethiopians show great cultural, linguistic, and historical diversity, which makes them essential for understanding African variability and human origins. We genotyped 235 individuals from ten Ethiopian and two neighboring (South Sudanese and Somali) populations on an Illumina Omni 1M chip. Genotypes were compared with published data from several African and non-African populations. Principal-component and STRUCTURE-like analyses confirmed substantial genetic diversity both within and between populations, and revealed a match between genetic data and linguistic affiliation. Using comparisons with African and non-African reference samples in 40-SNP genomic windows, we identified "African"

SUBMITTER: Pagani L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3397267 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature