Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary reasons for variation in nose shape across human populations have been subject to continuing debate. An import function of the nose and nasal cavity is to condition inspired air before it reaches the lower respiratory tract. For this reason, it is thought the observed differences in nose shape among populations are not simply the result of genetic drift, but may be adaptations to climate. To address the question of whether local adaptation to climate is responsible for nose shape divergence across populations, we use Qst-Fst comparisons to show that nares width and alar base width are more differentiated across populations than expected under genetic drift alone. To test whether this differentiation is due to climate adaptation, we compared the spatial distribution of thes

SUBMITTER: Zaidi AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5354252 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature