Evolutionary Approaches to Human Genetic and Cultural Diversity - HUMANEVOL
The Evolutionary Approaches to Human Genetic and Cultural Diversity group, based at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO in Vairão, Portugal, continues the work of the former Human Evolutionary Genetics group by dedicating itself to the study of the major evolutionary forces that shaped the diversity patterns currently observed in human genes and populations. By using different types of molecular markers and analytical approaches, we focus both on the reconstruction of the history of human populations and on the analysis of the evolutionary history of specific genes. The major interrelated topics within which we have been developing these interests are the history and migration patterns of African populations, the signatures of natural selection in human adaptive traits, and the evolution of anthropologically relevant complex traits.
Our work on population history focuses on the contact patterns that gave rise to the creole societies of São Tomé e Príncipe and Cape Verde, as well as on southern Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe) as a confluence zone of different migratory waves. Research on specific genes includes the analysis of the origin, evolution and spread of genetic variants involved in human pigmentation, lactase persistence and resistance to infectious disease. Studies on complex traits focus on the genetic basis and evolution of skin and eye color.
Our research is explicitly multidisciplinary and takes into account both genetic and non-genetic aspects of human variation, including language and livelihood strategies. At present, we are studying the relationship between linguistic and genetic diversity in Bantu-speaking populations, as well as in forager and herder societies speaking languages of the three "Khoisan” families Kx’a, Tuu and Khoe-Kwadi. Additional collaborations involve specialists from animal genetics, livelihood ecology, anthropology, and archaeology.
Group Website: https://afehn3.wixsite.com/humanevol-cibio