Evolution of modern humans: evidence from nuclear DNA polymorphisms

Abstract

Previously we have described studies of the evolution of modern humans based upon data for classical genetic markers and for nuclear DNA polymorphisms. Such polymorphisms provide a different point of view regarding hum an evolution than do mitochondrial DNA sequences. Here we com pare revised dates for major migrations of anatomically modern humans, estimated from archaeological data, with separations suggested by a genetic tree constructed from classical marker allele frequencies. Analyses of DNA polymorphisms have now been extended and com pared with those of classical markers; genetic trees continue to support the hypothesis of an initial African and non-African divergence for modern humans. We have also begun testing non-hum an primates for a set of human DNA polymorphisms. For most polymorphisms tested so far, humans share a single allele with other primates; such shared alleles are likely to be ancestral. Populations living in humid tropical environments have significantly higher frequencies of ancestral alleles than do other populations, supporting the hypothesis that natural selection acts to maintain high frequencies of particular alleles in some environments.