An ancient DNA study involving nearly 16,000 people over more than 10,000 years in Western Eurasia (Europe and western Asia) reveals that natural selection has accelerated in recent human evolution.
The investigation, published in the magazine and led by researchers from Harvard Medical School, combined ancient genomic data with innovative computational methods to reveal how natural selection acted on genes, of which more than half have known links to disease risk and other current characteristics.
Many of the genetic variants identified have known links to complex physical, psychological and social characteristics.including the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and schizophrenia.
So far, DNA studies (deoxyribonucleic acid, a molecule that contains the genetic instructions for the development and functioning of living beings) had identified only around 21 cases of directional selection, the university said in a statement.
This type of selection occurs when a version of a gene that confers an extreme form of a traitsuch as lactose tolerance after childhood, proves to be advantageous enough for survival and reproductionbeing transmitted to more descendants than the less advantageous versions.
A dearth of evidence suggested that directional selection was uncommon since modern humans emerged in Africa.around 300,000 years ago, diversifying into different population groups around the world.
However, the study concludes, directional selection drove the spread or decline of hundreds of genetic variants in Eurasia Western since the end of the Ice Age e this selection has accelerated since humans moved from hunting and gathering to agriculture.
More than 250 archaeologists and anthropologists collaborated with the researchers to publish new DNA data from 10,016 ancient individuals from Western Eurasia, which adds to the 5,820 ancient and 6,438 modern sequences already published.
