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Adaptations to local environments in modern human populations

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Jeong, Choongwon, Di Rienzo, Anna·2014·Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
DOI 10.1016/j.gde.2014.06.011PMC PMC4258478
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Abstract

After leaving sub-Saharan Africa around 50000-100000 years ago, anatomically modern humans have quickly occupied extremely diverse environments. Human populations were exposed to further environmental changes resulting from cultural innovations, such as the spread of farming, which gave rise to new selective pressures related to pathogen exposures and dietary shifts. In addition to changing the frequency of individual adaptive alleles, natural selection may also shape the overall genetic architecture of adaptive traits. Here, we review recent advances in understanding the genetic architecture of adaptive human phenotypes based on insights from the studies of lactase persistence, skin pigmentation and high-altitude adaptation. These adaptations evolved in parallel in multiple human populations, providing a chance to investigate independent realizations of the evolutionary process. We suggest that the outcome of adaptive evolution is often highly variable even under similar selective pressures. Finally, we highlight a growing need for detecting adaptations that did not follow the classical sweep model and for incorporating new sources of genetic evidence such as information from ancient DNA.

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  • To date, strong effects of directional selection on human population differences have been verifiable primarily for traits connected to predictable categories of geographic variability, including dietary adaptations, infectious disease resistance and skin pigmentation.

    “To date, strong effects of directional selection on human population differences have been verifiable primarily for traits connected to predictable categories of geographic variability, including dietary adaptations, infectious disease resistance and skin pigmentation [14–16].”

    From Interpreting polygenic scores, polygenic adaptation, and human phenotypic differences (2019) · cites this paper as [16]

    The section on genetic architecture reports strong signatures of recent positive selection for lactase persistence and skin-pigmentation variants, supporting the dietary and pigmentation examples. The Abstract mentions pathogen exposure as a selective pressure but does not establish strong directional selection for infectious-disease resistance. It also treats high-altitude adaptation as a major example, so the claimed emphasis on the listed categories is not fully supported. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Theories involving natural selection have long been applied in the scientific literature to explain mean phenotypic differences among human populations.

    “Theories involving natural selection have long been applied in the scientific literature to explain mean phenotypic differences among human populations [14–16].”

    From Interpreting polygenic scores, polygenic adaptation, and human phenotypic differences (2019) · cites this paper as [16]

  • Genomic investigations have provided insights into how natural selection has given rise to differences in phenotypes that vary geographically, such as skin pigmentation, lactase persistence and altitude-related physiology.

    “Genomic investigations have provided insights into how natural selection has given rise to differences in phenotypes that vary geographically, such as skin pigmentation, lactase persistence and altitude-related physiology [14–16].”

    From Interpreting polygenic scores, polygenic adaptation, and human phenotypic differences (2019) · cites this paper as [16]

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References 108 · Cited by 80

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Authors
Jeong, C., & Di Rienzo, A.
Affiliations
University of Chicago (US)
ORCID
Jeong, Choongwon
Venue
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-12
Volume
29
Pages
1-8
ISSN
0959-437X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.gde.2014.06.011
PMC
PMC4258478
OpenAlex
W1999382115
Cited by
80
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 1
FWCI
1.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Genetics & Development (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Seoul National University Open Repository (Seoul National University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Samsung Scholarship
  • NIH (R01HL119577)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
human adaptation, natural selection, lactase persistence, skin pigmentation, high-altitude adaptation, parallel evolution, ancient DNA, agricultural transformation, pathogen exposure, dietary change, modern human populations
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Environment, Genetics, Population, Humans, Phenotype, Selection, Genetic, Skin Pigmentation, Genetic Variation, Evolution, Molecular, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

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