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Review
. 2012 Mar 19;367(1590):770-84.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0306.

Out-of-Africa, the peopling of continents and islands: tracing uniparental gene trees across the map

Stephen Oppenheimer  1
Affiliations
Review

Out-of-Africa, the peopling of continents and islands: tracing uniparental gene trees across the map

Stephen Oppenheimer. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

Genetic relationships between human groups were first studied by comparisons of relative allele frequency at multiple loci. Geographical study of detailed, highly resolved trees of single, non-recombining uniparental loci (mitochondrial DNA: mtDNA and Y chromosome/non-recombining Y: NRY), following specific lineages rather than populations, then revolutionized knowledge of the peopling of the world, although, curiously, the use of geographically highly specific mutations that protect against malaria, found on individual autosomal globin genes, were first in single-locus phylogeography. mtDNA, with its high single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation rates and relative ease of dating, led the way and gave stronger proof of the recent near replacement of all human species by anatomically modern humans (AMH). AMH left Africa via a single southern exit about 70 000 years ago and rapidly spread around the Indian Ocean towards the Antipodes, long before a small branch left a South Asian colony, earlier on the trail, to populate Europe. The worldwide skeleton phylogeny of mtDNA is fully resolved, but a regional analysis will continue to illuminate subsequent migrations. NRY with a lower SNP mutation rate still has a dating problem relating to use the of single tandem repeats (STRs), but has validated mtDNA results and with more geographical specificity and genomic size, as with the autosomal human genome, has much more detail to offer for the future.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Narrative map of modern human dispersals, as reconstructed in this review. Adapted from Oppenheimer [10].
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Phylogeny based on the first mtDNA complete sequence data available in 2000 (from 52 individuals randomly selected around the world). Original branch-date calibration by author. Structure of tree remains essentially the same today. Adapted from fig. 0.3 [10,11]. Note the chimpanzee–human coalescent date derives from analysis of coding region, i.e. not assumed from fossil evidence.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Map showing single southern route out of Africa and beachcomber arc route from the Red Sea along the Indo-Pacific coast to Australia, including likely extensions to China, Japan and New Guinea, from OIS-4. Vegetation and sea level shown as at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Overlay: claimed fossil and cultural evidence for AMH in Eurasia during OIS-5–early OIS-3 (dates in text). Adapted from fig. 1.6 [10,11].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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