BaTwa populations from Zambia retain ancestry of past hunter-gatherer groups.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39181874.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-50733-y and PMC identifier 11344834.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Sub-equatorial Africa is today inhabited predominantly by Bantu-speaking groups of Western African descent who brought agriculture to the Luangwa valley in eastern Zambia ~2000 years ago. Before their arrival the area was inhabited by hunter-gatherers, who in many cases were subsequently replaced, displaced or assimilated. In Zambia, we know little about the genetic affinities of these hunter-gatherers. We examine ancestry of two isolated communities in Zambia, known as BaTwa and possible descendants of recent hunter-gatherers. We genotype over two million genome-wide SNPs from two BaTwa populations (total of 80 individuals) and from three comparative farming populations to: (i) determine if the BaTwa carry genetic links to past hunter-gatherer-groups, and (ii) characterise the genetic affinities of past Zambian hunter-gatherer-groups. The BaTwa populations do harbour a hunter-gatherer-like genetic ancestry and Western African ancestry. The hunter-gatherer component is a unique local signature, intermediate between current-day Khoe-San ancestry from southern Africa and central African rainforest hunter-gatherer ancestry.
Medical subject headings
- Black People
- Genetics, Population
- Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide