Challenges of accurately estimating sex-biased admixture from X chromosomal and autosomal ancestry proportions.

ABSTRACT: Sex-biased admixture can be inferred from ancestry-specific proportions of X chromosome and autosomes. In a paper published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Micheletti et al.¹ used this approach to quantify male and female contributions following the transatlantic slave trade. Using a large dataset from 23andMe, they concluded that African and European contributions to gene pools in the Americas were much more sex biased than previously thought. We show that the reported extreme sex-specific contributions can be attributed to unassigned genetic ancestry as well as the limitations of simple models of sex-biased admixture. Unassigned ancestry proportions in the study by Micheletti et al. ranged from ∼1% to 21%, depending on the type of chromosome and geographic region. A

SUBMITTER: Pfennig A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9943719 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature