Africans have more genetic variation than anyone else on Earth, said a study that helps narrow the location where humans first evolved, probably near the South Africa-Namibia border.
The largest study of African genetics ever undertaken also found that nearly three-fourths of African-Americans can trace their ancestry to West Africa. The new analysis was published on Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science.
“Given the fact that modern humans arose in Africa, they have had time to accumulate dramatic changes” in their genes, said lead researcher Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania.
Over 10 years, Tishkoff and an international team of researchers trekked across Africa collecting samples of genes from various peoples.
FIGHTING DISEASE
She said that very little had been known about the genetic variation in Africans, information vital to understanding why diseases have a greater impact in some groups than others and in designing ways to counter those illnesses.
Scott Williams of Vanderbilt University said that constructing patterns of disease variations could help determine which genes predispose a group to a particular illness.
This study “provides a critical piece in the puzzle,” he said.
For example, there are clear differences in prevalence of diseases such as hypertension and prostate cancer across populations, Williams said.
“The human genome describes the complexity of our species,” said Muntaser Ibrahim of the department of molecular biology at the University of Khartoum. “Now we have spectacular insight into the history of the African population ... the oldest history of mankind.
“Everybody’s history is part of African history because everybody came out of Africa,” Ibrahim said.
WESTERN AFRICA
The study also found that about 71 percent of African-Americans can trace their ancestry to Western African origins. They also have between 13 percent and 15 percent European ancestry and a smaller amount of other African origins.
There was “very little” evidence for Native American genes among black Americans, Tishkoff said.
Ehret said that only about 20 percent of the Africans brought to North America made the trip directly, while most of the rest went first to the West Indies.
Overall, the researchers were able to study and compare the genetics of 121 African groups, 60 non-African populations and four African-American groups.
MOST-MIXED
The so-called “Cape-colored” population of South Africa has the highest levels of mixed ancestry on the globe, a blend of African, European, East Asian and South Indian, Tishkoff said.
“This will be a great population for study of diseases” that are more common in one group than another, she said.
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