Population history and genetic adaptation of the Fulani nomads: inferences from genome-wide data and the lactase persistence trait.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human population history in the Holocene was profoundly impacted by changes in lifestyle following the invention and adoption of food-production practices. These changes triggered significant increases in population sizes and expansions over large distances. Here we investigate the population history of the Fulani, a pastoral population extending throughout the African Sahel/Savannah belt.

Results

Based on genome-wide analyses we propose that ancestors of the Fulani population experienced admixture between a West African group and a group carrying both European and North African ancestries. This admixture was likely coupled with newly adopted herding practices, as it resulted in signatures of genetic adaptation in contemporary Fulani genomes, including the control

SUBMITTER: Vicente M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6888939 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature