Cited by 501Forensic and Genetic ResearchGenetic diversity and population structureGenetic Associations and Epidemiology

Low nucleotide diversity in man.

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Li, W H, Sadler, L A·1991·Genetics

Abstract

The nucleotide diversity (pi) in humans is studied by using published cDNA and genomic sequences that have been carefully checked for sequencing accuracy. This measure of genetic variability is defined as the number of nucleotide differences per site between two randomly chosen sequences from a population. A total of more than 75,000 base pairs from 49 loci are compared. The DNA regions studied are the 5' and 3' untranslated regions and the amino acid coding regions. The coding regions are divided into nondegenerate sites (i.e., sites at which all possible changes are nonsynonymous), twofold degenerate sites (i.e., sites at each of which one of the three possible changes is synonymous) and fourfold degenerate sites (i.e., sites at which all three possible changes are synonymous). The pi values estimated are, respectively, 0.03 and 0.04% for the 5' and 3' UT regions, and 0.03, 0.06 and 0.11% for nondegenerate, twofold degenerate and fourfold degenerate sites. Since the highest pi value is only 0.11%, which is about one order of magnitude lower than those in Drosophila populations, the nucleotide diversity in humans is very low. The low diversity is probably due to a relatively small long-term effective population size rather than any severe bottleneck during human evolution.

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  • Humans have limited genetic variation: the heterozygosity rate for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is ~1 in 1000 bases.

    “As predicted by classical theory (29), humans have limited genetic variation: The heterozygosity rate for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is ~1 in 1000 bases (30–32).”

    From Genetic Mapping in Human Disease (2008) · cites this paper as [31]

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. AQUADRO, C. F., 1991 Molecular population genetics of Drosoph- ila, in Molecular Approaches to Pure and Applied Entomology, edited by J. OAKESHOTL and M. WHITTEN. Springer-Verlag, New York (in press).
  2. CRABTREEand G . L. LONG, 1985 The structure and evolution 909-9 12. 23 16-2320. 8966-8971. 6629-6633. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/129/2/513/6007055 by guest on 17 July 2024
  3. HARRIS, H., 1966 Enzyme polymorphisms in man. Proc. R. SOC. Lond. Ser. B 164: 198-3 10.
  4. HUGHES, A. L., and M. NEI, 1989 Nucleotidesubstitution at major histocompatibility complex class I1 loci: evidence for overdom- inant selection. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 8 6 958-962.
  5. JARRETT-NEDWIN, J. v. PENNICA, D. GOEDDELand P. w. GRAY, Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article/129/2/513/6007055 by guest on 17 July 2024 trophoretic identity of proteins between taxa. J. Mol. Evol. 2:

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Authors
Li, W. H., & Sadler, L. A.
Affiliations
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (US)
ORCID
Li, W H
Venue
Genetics
Published
1991-10-01
Volume
129
Issue
2
Pages
513-523
ISSN
  • 0016-6731 (ISSN-L)
  • 1943-2631
OpenAlex
W2149318232
Cited by
501
References
131
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 14
FWCI
6.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Genetics (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
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
nucleotide diversity, human genetic variation, synonymous sites, 5' and 3' untranslated regions, effective population size, population bottleneck, human evolution, Drosophila comparison
MeSH terms
Animals, Chromosome Deletion, DNA, Drosophila, Humans, Mutation, Genetic Variation

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