Genetic signatures reveal high-altitude adaptation in a set of ethiopian populations.

ABSTRACT: The Tibetan and Andean Plateaus and Ethiopian highlands are the largest regions to have long-term high-altitude residents. Such populations are exposed to lower barometric pressures and hence atmospheric partial pressures of oxygen. Such "hypobaric hypoxia" may limit physical functional capacity, reproductive health, and even survival. As such, selection of genetic variants advantageous to hypoxic adaptation is likely to have occurred. Identifying signatures of such selection is likely to help understanding of hypoxic adaptive processes. Here, we seek evidence of such positive selection using five Ethiopian populations, three of which are from high-altitude areas in Ethiopia. As these populations may have been recipients of Eurasian gene flow, we correct for this admixture. Using single-nu

SUBMITTER: Huerta-Sanchez E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3708501 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature