Cited by 505Forensic and Genetic ResearchGenetic diversity and population structureGenetic Associations and Epidemiology

Correlation between Genetic and Geographic Structure in Europe

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Lao, Oscar, Lu, Timothy T., Nothnagel, Michael, Junge, Olaf, Freitag-Wolf, Sandra, Caliebe, Amke, Balascakova, Miroslava, Bertranpetit, Jaume +25 more·2008·Current Biology

Abstract

Understanding the genetic structure of the European population is important, not only from a historical perspective, but also for the appropriate design and interpretation of genetic epidemiological studies. Previous population genetic analyses with autosomal markers in Europe either had a wide geographic but narrow genomic coverage [1, 2], or vice versa [3-6]. We therefore investigated Affymetrix GeneChip 500K genotype data from 2,514 individuals belonging to 23 different subpopulations, widely spread over Europe. Although we found only a low level of genetic differentiation between subpopulations, the existing differences were characterized by a strong continent-wide correlation between geographic and genetic distance. Furthermore, mean heterozygosity was larger, and mean linkage disequilibrium smaller, in southern as compared to northern Europe. Both parameters clearly showed a clinal distribution that provided evidence for a spatial continuity of genetic diversity in Europe. Our comprehensive genetic data are thus compatible with expectations based upon European population history, including the hypotheses of a south-north expansion and/or a larger effective population size in southern than in northern Europe. By including the widely used CEPH from Utah (CEU) samples into our analysis, we could show that these individuals represent northern and western Europeans reasonably well, thereby confirming their assumed regional ancestry.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.049

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  • European Americans have a history of admixture of many genetically distinct European populations.

    “European Americans, however, have a history of admixture of many genetically distinct European populations.27,28”

    From The genetic ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States (2015) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Summary reports a low level of genetic differentiation among European subpopulations, and Results and Discussion describes European Americans as descendants of European migrants. Neither passage establishes a history of admixture among many European populations in European Americans. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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  1. Rosenberg, M.S. (2001). PASSAGE: Pattern Analysis, Spatial Statistics, and Geographic Exegesis. 1.1 Edition, A.S.U. Department of Biology, ed. (Tempe, AZ.).

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Authors
Lao, O., Lu, T. T., Nothnagel, M., Junge, O., Freitag-Wolf, S., Caliebe, A., Balascakova, M., Bertranpetit, J., Bindoff, L. A., Comas, D., Holmlund, G., Kouvatsi, A., Macek, M., Mollet, I., Parson, W., Palo, J., Ploski, R., Sajantila, A., Tagliabracci, A., Gether, U., Werge, T., Rivadeneira, F., Hofman, A., Uitterlinden, A. G., Gieger, C., Wichmann, H.-E., Rüther, A., Schreiber, S., Becker, C., Nürnberg, P., Nelson, M. R., Krawczak, M., & Kayser, M.
Affiliations
  • Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
  • Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
  • Haukeland University Hospital (NO)
  • Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine (SE)
  • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
  • Innsbruck Medical University (AT)
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • University of Copenhagen (DK)
  • Sankt Hans Hospital (DK)
  • Erasmus MC (NL)
  • Helmholtz Munich (DE)
  • University of Cologne (DE)
  • GlaxoSmithKline (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
Kayser, Manfred
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-08
Volume
18
Issue
16
Pages
1241-1248
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1984358340
Cited by
503
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 41
FWCI
29.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
  • Università Politecnica delle Marche (Università Politecnica delle Marche) (submittedVersion)
  • Site cant be reached (submittedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
  • INFM-OAR (INFN Catania) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (cc-by)
Funders
Gentofte Hospital
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
heterozygosity, linkage disequilibrium, effective population size, demographic history
MeSH terms
Europe, Genetics, Population, Genotype, Geography, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, White People

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