Central African genetic history
The genetic history of Central Africa encompasses the
genetic history of the
people of
Central Africa . The
Sahara served as a trans-regional passageway and place of dwelling for
people in
Africa during various
humid phases
[1]
[2]
[3] and periods throughout the
history of Africa .
[4]
[5]
Archaic Human DNA
Archaic traits found in human fossils of
West Africa (e.g.,
Iho Eleru fossils , which dates to 13,000 BP) and
Central Africa (e.g.,
Ishango fossils, which dates between 25,000 BP and 20,000 BP) may have developed as a result of admixture between archaic humans and modern humans or may be evidence of late-persisting
early modern humans .
[6] While
Denisovan and
Neanderthal ancestry in
non-Africans outside of Africa are more certain,
archaic human ancestry in Africans is less certain and is too early to be established with certainty.
[6]
Ancient DNA
In 4000 BP (or even earlier during the Mesolithic), there may have been a population that traversed from
Africa (e.g.,
West Africa or West-
Central Africa ), through the
Strait of Gibraltar , into the
Iberian peninsula , where admixing between Africans and Iberians (e.g., of northern
Portugal , of southern
Spain ) occurred. Based on a small trace presence of sub-Saharan African components in select samples from Iberia, and the discovery of a mitogenome L2a1 found in one individual, while all others belonged to European mitochondrial haplogroups.
[7]
Cameroon
West African hunter-gatherers , in the region of western Central Africa (e.g.,
Shum Laka ,
Cameroon ), particularly between 8000 BP and 3000 BP, were found to be related to modern
Central African hunter-gatherers (e.g.,
Baka ,
Bakola ,
Biaka ,
Bedzan ).
[8]
Democratic Republic of Congo
At Kindoki, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo , there were three individuals, dated to the
protohistoric period (230 BP, 150 BP, 230 BP); one carried haplogroups
E1b1a1a1d1a2 (E-CTS99, E-CTS99) and
L1c3a1b , another carried
haplogroup E (E-M96, E-PF1620) , and the last carried haplogroups
R1b1 (R-P25 1, R-M415) and
L0a1b1a1 .
[9]
[10]
At Ngongo Mbata, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo , an individual, dated to the
protohistoric period (220 BP), carried haplogroup
L1c3a .
[9]
[10]
At Matangai Turu Northwest, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo , an individual, dated to the
Iron Age (750 BP), carried an undetermined haplogroup(s).
[9]
[10]
Y-Chromosomal DNA
Haplogroup R-V88 may have originated in western Central Africa (e.g.,
Equatorial Guinea ), and, in the middle of the
Holocene , arrived in
North Africa through population migration.
[11]
Mitochondrial DNA
In 150,000 BP, Africans (e.g.,
Central Africans ,
East Africans ) bearing
haplogroup L1 diverged.
[12] Between 75,000 BP and 60,000 BP, Africans bearing
haplogroup L3 emerged in
East Africa and eventually migrated into and became present in modern
West Africans , Central Africans, and
non-Africans .
[12] Amid the Holocene, including the
Holocene Climate Optimum in 8000 BP, Africans bearing haplogroup L2 spread within West Africa and Africans bearing haplogroup L3 spread within East Africa.
[12] As the largest migration since the
Out of Africa migration , migration from Sub-Saharan Africa toward the North Africa occurred, by West Africans, Central Africans, and East Africans, resulting in migrations into
Europe and
Asia ; consequently, Sub-Saharan African mitochondrial DNA was introduced into Europe and Asia.
[12]
Mitochondrial
haplogroup L1c is strongly associated with pygmies, especially with
Bambenga groups.
[13] L1c prevalence was variously reported as: 100% in
Ba-Kola , 97% in
Aka (Ba-Benzélé) , and 77% in
Biaka ,
[14] 100% of the
Bedzan (Tikar) , 97% and 100% in the
Baka people of
Gabon and
Cameroon , respectively,
[15] 97% in
Bakoya (97%), and 82% in
Ba-Bongo .
[13] Mitochondrial haplogroups
L2a and
L0a are prevalent among the
Bambuti .
[13]
[16]
Autosomal DNA
Genetically,
African pygmies have some key difference between them and
Bantu peoples .
[17]
[18]
Medical DNA
Evidence suggests that, when compared to other
Sub-Saharan African populations,
African pygmy populations display unusually low levels of expression of the genes encoding for
human growth hormone and
its receptor associated with low
serum levels of
insulin-like growth factor-1 and short stature.
[19]
The genomes of Africans commonly found to undergo
adaptation are
regulatory DNA , and many cases of adaptation found among Africans relate to
diet ,
physiology , and
evolutionary pressures from pathogens.
[20] Throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa , genetic adaptation (e.g., rs334 mutation,
Duffy blood group , increased rates of
G6PD deficiency ,
sickle cell disease ) to
malaria has been found among
Sub-Saharan Africans , which may have initially developed in 7300 BP.
[20]
Sub-Saharan Africans have more than 90% of the
Duffy-null genotype.
[21] In the
rainforests of
Central Africa , genetic adaptation for non-height-related factors (e.g.,
immune traits ,
reproduction ,
thyroid function) and
short stature (e.g., EHB1 and PRDM5 –
bone synthesis ; OBSCN and COX10 –
muscular development ;
HESX1 and ASB14 –
pituitary gland ’s growth hormone production/secretion) has been found among
rainforest hunter-gatherers .
[20]
References
^ Osborne, Anne H.; et al. (October 2008).
"A humid corridor across the Sahara for the migration of early modern humans out of Africa 120,000 years ago" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 105 (43): 16444–16447.
Bibcode :
2008PNAS..10516444O .
doi :
10.1073/pnas.0804472105 .
PMC
2575439 .
PMID
18936490 .
S2CID
10418009 .
^ Drake, Nick; Breeze, Paul (2016).
"Climate Change and Modern Human Occupation of the Sahara from MIS 6-2" . Africa from MIS 6-2 . Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Africa from MIS 6-2. pp. 103–122.
doi :
10.1007/978-94-017-7520-5_6 .
ISBN
978-94-017-7519-9 .
S2CID
131383927 .
^ El-Shenawy, Mohammed I.; et al. (2018).
"Speleothem evidence for the greening of the Sahara and its implications for the early human dispersal out of sub-Saharan Africa" . Quaternary Science Reviews . 188 : 67–76.
Bibcode :
2018QSRv..188...67E .
doi :
10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.016 .
S2CID
134694090 .
^
Scheele, Judith (Aug 2016).
Crossroads Regions: The Sahara . Oxford Handbooks Online.
doi :
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935369.013.18 .
ISBN
978-0-19-993536-9 .
^ Wippel, Steffen (2020).
"The Sahara as a Bridge, Not a Barrier: An Essay and Book Review on Recent Transregional Perspectives" . Neue Politische Literatur . 65 (3): 449–472.
doi :
10.1007/s42520-020-00318-y .
S2CID
224855920 .
^
a
b Bergström A, Stringer C, Hajdinjak M, Scerri EM, Skoglund P (February 2021). "Origins of modern human ancestry". Nature . 590 (7845): 229–237.
Bibcode :
2021Natur.590..229B .
doi :
10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5 .
PMID
33568824 .
S2CID
231883210 .
^ González-Fortes, G.; et al. (2019).
"A western route of prehistoric human migration from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula" . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 286 (1895): 20182288.
doi :
10.1098/rspb.2018.2288 .
PMC
6364581 .
PMID
30963949 .
S2CID
104296971 .
^ Lipson M, Ribot I, Mallick S, Rohland N, Olalde I, Adamski N, et al. (January 2020).
"Ancient West African foragers in the context of African population history" . Nature . 577 (7792): 665–670.
Bibcode :
2020Natur.577..665L .
doi :
10.1038/s41586-020-1929-1 .
PMC
8386425 .
PMID
31969706 .
S2CID
210862788 .
^
a
b
c Wang K, Goldstein S, Bleasdale M, Clist B, Bostoen K, Bakwa-Lufu P, et al. (June 2020).
"Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa" . Science Advances . 6 (24): eaaz0183.
Bibcode :
2020SciA....6..183W .
doi :
10.1126/sciadv.aaz0183 .
PMC
7292641 .
PMID
32582847 .
^
a
b
c Wang K, Goldstein S, Bleasdale M, Clist B, Bostoen K, Bakwa-Lufu P, et al. (June 2020).
"Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa" . Science Advances . 6 (24): eaaz0183.
Bibcode :
2020SciA....6..183W .
doi :
10.1126/sciadv.aaz0183 .
PMC
7292641 .
PMID
32582847 .
^ González M, Gomes V, López-Parra AM, Amorim A, Carracedo A, Sánchez-Diz P, et al. (March 2013).
"The genetic landscape of Equatorial Guinea and the origin and migration routes of the Y chromosome haplogroup R-V88" . European Journal of Human Genetics . 21 (3): 324–331.
doi :
10.1038/ejhg.2012.167 .
PMC
3573200 .
PMID
22892526 .
^
a
b
c
d Sá, Luísa; et al. (16 August 2022).
"Phylogeography of Sub-Saharan Mitochondrial Lineages Outside Africa Highlights the Roles of the Holocene Climate Changes and the Atlantic Slave Trade" . International Journal of Molecular Sciences . 23 (16): 9219.
doi :
10.3390/ijms23169219 .
ISSN
1661-6596 .
OCLC
9627558751 .
PMC
9408831 .
PMID
36012483 .
S2CID
251653686 .
^
a
b
c Quintana-Murci L, Quach H, Harmant C, Luca F, Massonnet B, Patin E, et al. (February 2008).
"Maternal traces of deep common ancestry and asymmetric gene flow between Pygmy hunter-gatherers and Bantu-speaking farmers" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 105 (5): 1596–1601.
Bibcode :
2008PNAS..105.1596Q .
doi :
10.1073/pnas.0711467105 .
PMC
2234190 .
PMID
18216239 .
^ Sarah A. Tishkoff et al. 2007,
History of Click-Speaking Populations of Africa Inferred from mtDNA and Y Chromosome Genetic Variation. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2007 24(10):2180-2195
^ Lluis Quintana-Murci et al. MtDNA diversity in Central Africa: from hunter-gathering to agriculturalism. CNRS-Institut Pasteur, Paris
^ Silva M, Alshamali F, Silva P, Carrilho C, Mandlate F, Jesus Trovoada M, et al. (July 2015).
"60,000 years of interactions between Central and Eastern Africa documented by major African mitochondrial haplogroup L2" . Scientific Reports . 5 : 12526.
Bibcode :
2015NatSR...512526S .
doi :
10.1038/srep12526 .
PMC
4515592 .
PMID
26211407 .
^ Jarvis JP, Scheinfeldt LB, Soi S, Lambert C, Omberg L, Ferwerda B, et al. (2012).
"Patterns of ancestry, signatures of natural selection, and genetic association with stature in Western African pygmies" . PLOS Genetics . 8 (4): e1002641.
doi :
10.1371/journal.pgen.1002641 .
PMC
3343053 .
PMID
22570615 .
^ López Herráez D, Bauchet M, Tang K, Theunert C, Pugach I, Li J, et al. (November 2009).
"Genetic variation and recent positive selection in worldwide human populations: evidence from nearly 1 million SNPs" . PLOS ONE . 4 (11): e7888.
Bibcode :
2009PLoSO...4.7888L .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0007888 .
PMC
2775638 .
PMID
19924308 .
^ Bozzola M, Travaglino P, Marziliano N, Meazza C, Pagani S, Grasso M, et al. (November 2009). "The shortness of Pygmies is associated with severe under-expression of the growth hormone receptor". Molecular Genetics and Metabolism . 98 (3): 310–313.
doi :
10.1016/j.ymgme.2009.05.009 .
PMID
19541519 .
^
a
b
c Pfennig, Aaron; et al. (March 29, 2023).
"Evolutionary Genetics and Admixture in African Populations" . Genome Biology and Evolution . 15 (4): evad054.
doi :
10.1093/gbe/evad054 .
OCLC
9817135458 .
PMC
10118306 .
PMID
36987563 .
S2CID
257803764 .
^ Wonkam, Ambroise; Adeyemo, Adebowale (March 8, 2023).
"Leveraging our common African origins to understand human evolution and health" (PDF) . Cell Genomics . 3 (3): 100278.
doi :
10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100278 .
PMC
10025516 .
PMID
36950382 .
S2CID
257458855 .