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Department of Biological Sciences
Seminar Series
Joe Lachance
Georgia Tech
University
April 3, 2017
1220 MRB III
4:10 with reception
at 3:45 in lobby
“Evolutionary history and the genomic health of ancient and modern humans.”
Abstract:
Evolutionary history contributes to differences in disease risks across populations, and
genetic risk scores can be calculated by integrating GWAS results with whole genome
sequence data. On a broad scale, hereditary disease risks are similar for ancient
hominins and modern-day humans. There is evidence that ancient pastoralists may
have had healthier genomes than hunter-gatherers or farmers, and genomes from the
recent past appear to be healthier than genomes from the deep past. Evolutionary
history also contributes to health disparities. We find that genetic risks of prostate
cancer are highest in West African populations and that a small number of loci appear
to drive this health disparity. Although most prostate cancer SNPs are evolving
neutrally, there are multiple instances where alleles have hitchhiked to high frequencies
with linked adaptive alleles. For example, a protective allele at 2q37 appears to have
risen to high frequency in Europe due to selection acting on pigmentation.