Title |
Searching for ancient balanced polymorphisms shared between Neanderthals and Modern Humans
|
---|---|
Published in |
Genetics and Molecular Biology, March 2018
|
DOI | 10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2017-0308 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Lucas Henriques Viscardi, Vanessa Rodrigues Paixão-Côrtes, David Comas, Francisco Mauro Salzano, Diego Rovaris, Claiton Dotto Bau, Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim, Maria Cátira Bortolini |
Abstract |
Hominin evolution is characterized by adaptive solutions often rooted in behavioral and cognitive changes. If balancing selection had an important and long-lasting impact on the evolution of these traits, it can be hypothesized that genes associated with them should carry an excess of shared polymorphisms (trans- SNPs) across recent Homo species. In this study, we investigate the role of balancing selection in human evolution using available exomes from modern (Homo sapiens) and archaic humans (H. neanderthalensis and Denisovan) for an excess of trans-SNP in two gene sets: one associated with the immune system (IMMS) and another one with behavioral system (BEHS). We identified a significant excess of trans-SNPs in IMMS (N=547), of which six of these located within genes previously associated with schizophrenia. No excess of trans-SNPs was found in BEHS, but five genes in this system harbor potential signals for balancing selection and are associated with psychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorders. Our approach evidenced recent Homo trans-SNPs that have been previously implicated in psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, suggesting that a genetic repertoire common to the immune and behavioral systems could have been maintained by balancing selection starting before the split between archaic and modern humans. |
Twitter Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Spain | 1 | 20% |
Unknown | 4 | 80% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 3 | 60% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 20% |
Scientists | 1 | 20% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 47 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 8 | 17% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 11% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 9% |
Researcher | 3 | 6% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 2 | 4% |
Other | 10 | 21% |
Unknown | 15 | 32% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 7 | 15% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 13% |
Psychology | 4 | 9% |
Neuroscience | 4 | 9% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 4% |
Other | 5 | 11% |
Unknown | 19 | 40% |