Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Factors and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Yanomamo

博士论文研究：亚诺玛莫人的文化因素和 Y 染色体变异

• 批准号: 0086557
• 负责人: Kenneth Weiss
• 金额: $ 1.15万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-02-15 至 2002-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0086557&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Cultural; Factors

Small-group social structure, cultural practices, and demography have shaped the amount of human genetic variation throughout most of human history. This study examines Y-chromosome variation among a group of native South Americans, the Yanomamo. This population provides a model of the demographic history of early human society (though this is by no means perfect, as the Yanomama, like all groups, have been affected by their broader context, including agriculture and contact - often detrimental contact - with the outside world). Still, small group dynamics have been the most important factor shaping modern human genetic diversity.This study uses genetic markers on the Y chromosome, which is unique to males, in order to understand the evolutionary patterns that have lead to the low variability found on the human Y chromosome. Specifically, this study will examine how differential reproductive success among males and the demographic processes of population growth and village social structure effect the distribution of Y-chromosome variation. In addition, this study will examine how cultural contact has changed the native distribution of Y-chromosome variation. This study uses and builds on the work of cultural anthropologists who precisely documented village histories, genealogies and demographic patterns during fieldwork conducted over the last three decades. The data generated by this project will be combined with this earlier data as well as with the data from other current studies on mitochondrial and autosomal DNA to produce one of the most comprehensive studies of a tribal population in the history of anthropology. The overall result will be a deeper understanding not only of the genetic patterns of the Yanomamo, but also of the processes that have shaped the genetic variation of all human beings. In particular, this study will examine aspects of the way that social and cultural factors affect human variation in the small-group circumstances in which most human populations throughout our history as a species have lived.

在人类历史的大部分时间里，小群体的社会结构、文化习俗和人口统计学决定了人类基因变异的数量。这项研究调查了一群南美原住民雅诺马莫人的Y染色体变异。这些人口提供了早期人类社会人口历史的模型(尽管这绝不是完美的，因为雅诺马人和所有群体一样，受到了更广泛的背景的影响，包括农业和与外部世界的接触--往往是有害的接触)。尽管如此，小群体动态一直是塑造现代人类遗传多样性的最重要因素。这项研究使用Y染色体上的遗传标记，这是男性特有的，以了解导致人类Y染色体上发现的低变异性的进化模式。具体地说，这项研究将研究男性之间不同的生殖成功以及人口增长和村庄社会结构的人口过程如何影响Y染色体变异的分布。此外，这项研究还将研究文化接触如何改变Y染色体变异的原生分布。这项研究使用并建立在文化人类学家的工作基础上，他们在过去30年的田野调查中准确地记录了村庄的历史、家谱和人口模式。该项目产生的数据将与这一早期数据以及目前对线粒体和常染色体DNA的其他研究数据相结合，以产生人类学历史上对部落人口最全面的研究之一。总体结果将不仅是对雅诺马莫人的遗传模式有更深入的了解，而且对塑造全人类遗传变异的过程也有了更深入的了解。特别是，这项研究将考察社会和文化因素在小群体环境中影响人类变异的方式，在我们整个历史上，大多数人类群体作为一个物种都生活在这种环境中。