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. 1999 Feb 1:12.

African diversity may hold key to human origins, medical questions. Genetic diversity

No authors listed
  • PMID: 12294764

African diversity may hold key to human origins, medical questions. Genetic diversity

No authors listed. AIDS Wkly Plus. .

Abstract

PIP: The genetic diversity of human populations in Africa has been studied less in Africa than it has been in Europe and Asia. However, the study of such diversity in Africa is important to the determination of where, when, and how modern humans evolved; to gain insight into the genetic diseases of Africans and African-Americans; and to identify potential treatments for diseases like malaria and HIV. Dr. Sarah Tishkoff et al.'s study of 3 locations on DNA samples from 13-18 populations in Africa and 30-45 other populations in other parts of the world found extremely high genetic diversity both within and between the African populations, and much less diversity in non-African populations. Tishkoff's research team examined the genetic information inherited from both the father and mother, which exists upon a strand of DNA close enough together that the markers are transferred intact. The use of genetic markers to trace lineages found that modern humans appear to have emerged from Africa 100,000-150,000 years ago and that the population which left Africa was rather small. These data agree with earlier research findings. The findings of Tishkoff et al. also suggest that the group which migrated from Africa came from northern East Africa.

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