Anisotropic isolation by distance: the main orientations of human genetic differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Genetic differentiation among human populations is greatly influenced by geography due to the accumulation of local allele frequency differences. However, little is known about the possibly different increment of genetic differentiation along the different geographical axes (north-south, east-west, etc.). Here, we provide new methods to examine the asymmetrical patterns of genetic differentiation. We analyzed genome-wide polymorphism data from populations in Africa (n = 29), Asia (n = 26), America (n = 9), and Europe (n = 38), and we found that the major orientations of genetic differentiation are north-south in Europe and Africa, and east-west in Asia, but no preferential orientation was found in the Americas. Additionally, we showed that the localization of the individual geographic orig

SUBMITTER: Jay F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3563970 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature