Modeling the contrasting Neolithic male lineage expansions in Europe and Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Patterns of genetic variation in a population carry information about the prehistory of the population, and for the human Y chromosome an especially informative phylogenetic tree has previously been constructed from fully-sequenced chromosomes. This revealed contrasting bifurcating and starlike phylogenies for the major lineages associated with the Neolithic expansions in sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe, respectively.

Results

We used coalescent simulations to investigate the range of demographic models most likely to produce the phylogenetic structures observed in Africa and Europe, assessing the starting and ending genetic effective population sizes, duration of the expansion, and time when expansion ended. The best-fitting models in Africa and Europe are v

SUBMITTER: Sikora MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4177147 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature