Ancient Ethiopia genome reveals extensive Eurasian admixture in Eastern Africa.

Marcos Gallego Llorente, E.R. Jones, A. Eriksson, V. Siska, Kathryn Weedman Arthur, John W. Arthur, Matthew C. Curtis, Jay T. Stock, M. Coltori, P. Pieruccini, S. Stretton, F. Brock, T. Higman, Y. Park, M. Hofreiter, D.G. Bradley, J. Bhak, R. Pinhasi, A. Manica

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Characterizing genetic diversity in Africa is a crucial step for most analyses reconstructing the evolutionary history of anatomically modern humans. However, historic migrations from Eurasia into Africa have affected many contemporary populations, confounding inferences. Here, we present a 12.5× coverage ancient genome of an Ethiopian male (“Mota”) who lived approximately 4500 years ago. We use this genome to demonstrate that the Eurasian backflow into Africa came from a population closely related to Early Neolithic farmers, who had colonized Europe 4000 years earlier.

Original languageAmerican English
JournalDefault journal
StatePublished - Jan 1 2015

Keywords

  • Africa
  • Genome
  • Ethiopia
  • Ancestry
  • Genetic diversity
  • Evolution
  • Modern humans

Disciplines

  • Anthropology
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

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