Out of Africa? What do genes tell us?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Genetic diversity patterns in nuclear versus mitochondrial systems and in low versus high mutation rate systems do not support the hypothesis of a recent African origin for all of humanity following a split between Africans and non-Africans 100,000 years ago, nor do genetic distance data. Geographical analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial gene trees do not support the hypothesis of a recent global replacement of humans coming out of Africa, although a local replacement event in Europe is indicated by these analyses and recent studies on Neandertal DNA. The gene tree analyses instead indicate that genetic interchanges have ensured that all of humanity has evolved as a single evolutionary lineage with no major splits.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)841-847
Number of pages7
JournalCurrent Opinion in Genetics and Development
Volume7
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1997
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • Developmental Biology

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