A couple of new genetic papers I'd love to read

But by the moment just mentioning them briefly.

Both are published by the European Journal of Human Genetics (Nature) and both are mentioned by Diekenes today (link 1, link 2).


African genetic structure shows novel elements

There has been some negligence in mapping the genetic structure of African populations, with most papers taken a West African proxy (typically Nigerians), sometimes enriched with some of the last hunter-gatherers of the continent, to represent the whole complexity of the ancestral continent.

This paper seems to address this lack.

Martin Sikora et al., A genomic analysis identifies a novel component in the genetic structure of sub-Saharan African populations. EJHG 2010. Pay per view.

Abstract

Studies of large sets of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data have proven to be a powerful tool in the analysis of the genetic structure of human populations. In this work, we analyze genotyping data for 2841 SNPs in 12 sub-Saharan African populations, including a previously unsampled region of southeastern Africa (Mozambique). We show that robust results in a world-wide perspective can be obtained when analyzing only 1000 SNPs. Our main results both confirm the results of previous studies, and show new and interesting features in sub-Saharan African genetic complexity. There is a strong differentiation of Nilo-Saharans, much beyond what would be expected by geography. Hunter-gatherer populations (Khoisan and Pygmies) show a clear distinctiveness with very intrinsic Pygmy (and not only Khoisan) genetic features. Populations of the West Africa present an unexpected similarity among them, possibly the result of a population expansion. Finally, we find a strong differentiation of the southeastern Bantu population from Mozambique, which suggests an assimilation of a pre-Bantu substrate by Bantu speakers in the region.

This Mozambican specificity was already spotted accidentally in Patin's paper on Pygmy Genetics last year but himself downplayed its importance because of his focus on Pygmy structure specifically.


West European R1b is distinct

Nothing really new for those who have kept a keen eye on the research of this Y-DNA haplogroup, the most characteristic of West Europe. But I'd still like to know more about the details. I doubt I could concur with the suggested timeline in any case.

Natalie M. Myres et al., A major Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b Holocene era founder effect in Central and Western Europe. EJHG 2010. Pay per view.

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of numerous branches within the core Y-chromosome haplogroup R-M207 support a West Asian origin of haplogroup R1b, its initial differentiation there followed by a rapid spread of one of its sub-clades carrying the M269 mutation to Europe. Here, we present phylogeographically resolved data for 2043 M269-derived Y-chromosomes from 118 West Asian and European populations assessed for the M412 SNP that largely separates the majority of Central and West European R1b lineages from those observed in Eastern Europe, the Circum-Uralic region, the Near East, the Caucasus and Pakistan. Within the M412 dichotomy, the major S116 sub-clade shows a frequency peak in the upper Danube basin and Paris area with declining frequency toward Italy, Iberia, Southern France and British Isles. Although this frequency pattern closely approximates the spread of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK), Neolithic culture, an advent leading to a number of pre-historic cultural developments during the past ≤10 thousand years, more complex pre-Neolithic scenarios remain possible for the L23(xM412) components in Southeast Europe and elsewhere.

M412 seems to be a novel SNP not yet reported at ISOGG. S116 (defined as its major subclade) used to describe R1b1b2a2, most diverse around the Pyrenees (unless this paper says the opposite). So I doubt the LBK hypothesis can hold, regardless of frequency.