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A genome scan for genes underlying adult body size differences between Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers

Overview of attention for article published in Human Genetics, July 2018
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Title
A genome scan for genes underlying adult body size differences between Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers
Published in
Human Genetics, July 2018
DOI 10.1007/s00439-018-1902-3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Trevor J. Pemberton, Paul Verdu, Noémie S. Becker, Cristen J. Willer, Barry S. Hewlett, Sylvie Le Bomin, Alain Froment, Noah A. Rosenberg, Evelyne Heyer

Abstract

The evolutionary and biological bases of the Central African "pygmy" phenotype, a characteristic of rainforest hunter-gatherers defined by reduced body size compared with neighboring farmers, remain largely unknown. Here, we perform a joint investigation in Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers of adult standing height, sitting height, leg length, and body mass index (BMI), considering 358 hunter-gatherers and 169 farmers with genotypes for 153,798 SNPs. In addition to reduced standing heights, hunter-gatherers have shorter sitting heights and leg lengths and higher sitting/standing height ratios than farmers and lower BMI for males. Standing height, sitting height, and leg length are strongly correlated with inferred levels of farmer genetic ancestry, whereas BMI is only weakly correlated, perhaps reflecting greater contributions of non-genetic factors to body weight than to height. Single- and multi-marker association tests identify one region and eight genes associated with hunter-gatherer/farmer status, and 24 genes associated with the height-related traits. Many of these genes have putative functions consistent with roles in determining their associated traits and the pygmy phenotype, and they include three associated with standing height in non-Africans (PRKG1, DSCAM, MAGI2). We find evidence that European height-associated SNPs or variants in linkage disequilibrium with them contribute to standing- and sitting-height determination in Central Africans, but not to the differential status of hunter-gatherers and farmers. These findings provide new insights into the biological basis of the pygmy phenotype, and they highlight the potential of cross-population studies for exploring the genetic basis of phenotypes that vary naturally across populations.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 27 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 26%
Student > Bachelor 3 11%
Student > Master 3 11%
Student > Doctoral Student 2 7%
Professor 2 7%
Other 4 15%
Unknown 6 22%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 30%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 19%
Social Sciences 3 11%
Psychology 2 7%
Design 1 4%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 8 30%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 July 2018.
All research outputs
#20,527,576
of 23,096,849 outputs
Outputs from Human Genetics
#2,826
of 2,963 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#286,483
of 327,152 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Human Genetics
#30
of 30 outputs
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