• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

High-resolution genomes reveal nuanced origins of the first farmers

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
May 12, 2022
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Farming has been thought to originate from a single population in Southwest Asia, which covers parts of the modern-day Middle East, and made its way to areas in Turkey, Greece, and eventually across Western Europe. Scientists have long debated how these populations have emerged and flowed throughout these regions, but now an international team of researchers have excavated a trove of new genetic information that may settle the debate. Their findings, presented May 12 in the journal Cell, show that the world’s first farmers did not originate from a single group as was previously thought but from the mixing of two groups of hunter-gatherers during a tumultuous time in which human settlements almost went extinct.

Researcher analyzing ancient human remains for paleogenetic research at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Credit: Joachim Burger

Farming has been thought to originate from a single population in Southwest Asia, which covers parts of the modern-day Middle East, and made its way to areas in Turkey, Greece, and eventually across Western Europe. Scientists have long debated how these populations have emerged and flowed throughout these regions, but now an international team of researchers have excavated a trove of new genetic information that may settle the debate. Their findings, presented May 12 in the journal Cell, show that the world’s first farmers did not originate from a single group as was previously thought but from the mixing of two groups of hunter-gatherers during a tumultuous time in which human settlements almost went extinct.

“I see the study as the first attempt at demonstrating demographic modeling based on ancient DNA,” says senior author and population geneticist Laurent Excoffier (@loronet) of the University of Bern, Switzerland. By sequencing the genome of each ancient human multiple times, a technique called deep sequencing, the research team yielded higher-quality data and much more information than conventional analyses based on shallower or partial sequencing. “We get much more detail about the demographic history of those populations, including population divergence, expansions, and infer admixture dates, which was really impossible to do before.”

The ancient DNA-based model, which was refined by additional geographical, cultural, archaeological, and climate data, assumed that about 25,000 years ago, a large initial population split into two groups. One moved to Western Europe, while the other stayed in Southwest Asia. Later, because of the drop in global temperature, the Western group experienced an extreme reduction in its population, where some grew close to extinction. The model explained why descendants of European hunter-gatherers have lower genetic diversity, a question that has long puzzled scientists.

“This is a new finding, and it leads to a different interpretation of how these hunter-gatherer populations were structured socially,” says Excoffier. Researchers have thought the groups’ small population size was what contributed to their low genetic diversity, but the new evidence showed that their populations were much larger than previously thought. “What it implies to us is that they were perhaps more connected between different groups.”

As the temperature fell and rose, the population ebbed and flowed. During warm periods, the populations dispersed, resulting in overlapping territories and admixtures, where individuals from previously isolated groups interbred. The model revealed that some of the first farmers emerged from the admixture of hunter-gatherers from a Western group and an already mixed group living in the east around 12,900 years ago. These farmers who domesticated plants and animals then migrated west, eventually bringing their culture to central Europe. Today, many people from all over Europe have descended from them.

Next, the team plans to further analyze ancient genomes from other geographical sites and times to understand cultures and populations that appeared during different stages of the Stone Age and potentially Bronze Age.

“While our study brought new results about history, I think what it really shows is that it’s worth investing in high-quality genomic data,” says Excoffier. “These ancient materials are limited and too precious not to be optimally analyzed. We should extract as much information as possible, which will become lasting resources that could be shared.”

###

This work was supported by the German Science Foundation, the Humboldt Foundation, the Greek-German bilateral agreement, the Serbian Ministry of Science project, the ERC BIRTH project, the Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship, the EMBO Long-Term fellowship, Mainz University, and grants from the Swiss SNSF and the Seal of Excellence Fund from the University of Berne.

Cell, Marchi et al. “The genomic origins of the world’s first farmers” https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00455-X

Cell (@CellCellPress), the flagship journal of Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact [email protected].



Journal

Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.cell.2022.04.008

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The genomic origins of the world’s first farmers

Article Publication Date

12-May-2022

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Huanhuan Joyce Chen at PME UChicago

Hunting for the immune cells that predispose people to severe COVID-19

May 24, 2022
Resting State Recorded with ISOI in Squirrel Monkey

Capturing cortical connectivity close-up

May 24, 2022

New gene identified in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

May 24, 2022

Type 2 diabetes accelerates brain aging and cognitive decline

May 24, 2022

POPULAR NEWS

  • Masks

    Hidden benefit: Facemasks may reduce severity of COVID-19 and pressure on health systems, researchers find

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • Breakthrough in estimating fossil fuel CO2 emissions

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Discovery of the one-way superconductor, thought to be impossible

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Sweet discovery could drive down inflammation, cancers and viruses

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Urogenital SystemZoology/Veterinary ScienceVirusVaccinesUrbanizationVehiclesUniversity of WashingtonWeaponryViolence/CriminalsVaccineWeather/StormsVirology

Recent Posts

  • Sunsmart streets using recycled rubber last twice as long
  • Hawk’s eyes may not help the world’s only nocturnal hawk hunt at night
  • Nearly 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021: Pitt team forecast devastating toll five years ago
  • Social dissatisfaction predicts vulnerability to financial exploitation in older adults
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....