Pattern and Process in Human DNA Sequence Variation

人类 DNA 序列变异的模式和过程

• 批准号: 0850997
• 负责人: Jeffrey Long
• 金额: $ 26.53万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0850997&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pattern; Process; Human; DNA; Sequence

This research will contrast and test two competing views about human genetic diversity and evolution. One view sees our genetic diversity as the outcome of founder effects that occurred as the human species expanded from Africa and filled the rest of the globe. The other view sees our genetic diversity as the outcome of genetic drift in a vast network of stable populations connected by local gene flow. To resolve these opposing views, this project will collect new DNA sequence data, and it will conduct analyses in a novel quantitative framework that is built from stochastic population genetic models. The intellectual merit of this project is that it uses a specific research design to resolve long-standing questions about human evolution and diversity. It uses the alternative scenarios for human evolution to make precise numerical predictions about patterns of DNA sequence differences. To test these predictions, the project will collect new data that are directly relevant to the questions at hand. The project's broader impact on the scientific community has several dimensions. It will produce a new body of DNA sequence data, and it will make these data publicly available in GenBank. It will develop new statistical tools that the principal investigator will distribute to other researchers free of charge. The project has a training component that will fuse the talents of graduate students with those of undergraduates. Students at both levels will help conduct the research and participate in analyses and reports. The principal investigator will use the results of this research to write an article for lay audiences on the topic of diversity and race in light of modern genomics. This article will explain to the lay public how human evolution provides a new nonracial framework to understand human differences and likeness.

这项研究将对比和检验关于人类遗传多样性和进化的两种相互竞争的观点。一种观点认为，我们的基因多样性是创始人效应的结果，这种效应发生在人类物种从非洲扩张到全球其他地方时。另一种观点认为，我们的遗传多样性是由当地基因流连接的稳定种群组成的庞大网络中遗传漂移的结果。为了解决这些对立的观点，该项目将收集新的DNA序列数据，并将在一个由随机种群遗传模型建立的新的量化框架中进行分析。这个项目的学术价值在于，它使用了一种特定的研究设计来解决关于人类进化和多样性的长期存在的问题。它使用人类进化的其他场景来对DNA序列差异的模式做出精确的数字预测。为了验证这些预测，该项目将收集与手头问题直接相关的新数据。该项目对科学界的更广泛影响有几个方面。它将产生一个新的DNA序列数据体，并将在GenBank中公开这些数据。它将开发新的统计工具，首席研究员将免费分发给其他研究人员。该项目有一个培训部分，将把研究生和本科生的才华融合在一起。两个级别的学生都将帮助进行研究，并参与分析和报告。首席研究员将利用这项研究的结果，根据现代基因组学为非专业读者撰写一篇关于多样性和种族主题的文章。这篇文章将向公众解释人类进化如何提供了一个新的非种族框架来理解人类的差异和相似之处。