Variation and Functional Impact of Neanderthal Ancestry in Western Asia.

ABSTRACT: Neanderthals contributed genetic material to modern humans via multiple admixture events. Initial admixture events presumably occurred in Western Asia shortly after humans migrated out of Africa. Despite being a focal point of admixture, earlier studies indicate lower Neanderthal introgression rates in some Western Asian populations as compared with other Eurasian populations. To better understand the genome-wide and phenotypic impact of Neanderthal introgression in the region, we sequenced whole genomes of nine present-day Europeans, Africans, and the Western Asian Druze at high depth, and analyzed available whole genome data from various other populations, including 16 genomes from present-day Turkey. Our results confirmed previous observations that contemporary Western Asian populations

SUBMITTER: Taskent RO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5751057 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature