Parasitic lice as markers of modern and archaic human introgression

寄生虱子作为现代和古代人类基因渗入的标志

• 批准号: 1655600
• 负责人: David Reed
• 金额: $ 67.8万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2022-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1655600&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Parasitic; lice; markers; modern; archaic

The pattern of early human evolution is a compelling topic for study. Fossil and genetic data provide deep insights into human history. Yet there are many important questions left unanswered. Recent research has found evidence of Neanderthal genes in modern humans. Scientists have shown that this shared DNA resulted from interbreeding during periods where modern humans and Neanderthals overlapped in time and space. What scientists have not been able to do is determine are the specific times, places and social context of this interbreeding. The human genetic data does not allow us to differentiate brief events from prolonged interbreeding. However, the distinct populations of lice that live on different human populations should remain distinct unless those human populations have prolonged and intimate contact. Therefore, this research will use louse genes to determine when, where, and for what duration these humans were in close contact in the distant past. The researchers will collect lice from populations in northern Africa, and the Middle East where human introgression with Neanderthals is thought to have first occurred. Genetic data from these lice will be collected and examined to explore patterns of human evolution. This project will train undergraduate students, graduate students, and a postdoctoral researcher how to effectively communicate research findings to broad audiences. The research team will also help museums promote scientific literacy in Middle School and High School students. Patterns of DNA variation in the Human Louse (Pedicularis humanus) confirm interactions between now-extinct humans such as Neanderthal and Modern humans. Further, there is even greater evidence of interbreeding between the lice of these two hosts than we see in the hosts themselves. Increased sampling of genomes across a broad geographic range of Louse samples from 90 key geographic populations will allow improved modeling of the location and nature of interactions between Neanderthal and Modern humans. Coalescent simulations will be generated based on the observed characteristics of roughly 10,000 P. humanus genes in 90 populations using the University of Florida's high-performance computer cluster (HiPerGator). Approximate Bayesian Computation will be used to determine what model of human behavior across time best fits the data that is generated.

早期人类进化模式是一个引人注目的研究课题。化石和遗传数据为人类历史提供了深刻的见解。然而，还有许多重要问题尚未得到解答。最近的研究在现代人类中发现了尼安德特人基因的证据。科学家们已经证明，这种共享的 DNA 是现代人类和尼安德特人在时间和空间上重叠时期杂交的结果。科学家们还无法确定这种杂交的具体时间、地点和社会背景。人类遗传数据不允许我们区分短暂事件和长期杂交。然而，生活在不同人群上的不同虱子种群应该保持不同，除非这些人群有长期和密切的接触。因此，这项研究将利用虱子基因来确定这些人类在遥远的过去何时、何地以及持续了多久的密切接触。 研究人员将从北非和中东地区的人群中收集虱子，这些地区被认为是人类与尼安德特人的渗入最早发生的地方。来自这些虱子的遗传数据将被收集和检查，以探索人类进化的模式。该项目将培训本科生、研究生和博士后研究员如何向广大受众有效地传达研究成果。该研究团队还将帮助博物馆提高初中生和高中生的科学素养。人类虱子（Pedillaryis humanus）的 DNA 变异模式证实了现已灭绝的人类（如尼安德特人）和现代人类之间的相互作用。此外，这两个宿主的虱子之间的杂交证据甚至比我们在宿主本身中看到的还要多。增加对来自 90 个关键地理种群的虱子样本的广泛地理范围的基因组采样，将有助于改进对尼安德特人和现代人类之间相互作用的位置和性质的建模。将使用佛罗里达大学的高性能计算机集群 (HiPerGator) 根据观察到的 90 个种群中大约 10,000 个 P. humanus 基因的特征来生成聚结模拟。近似贝叶斯计算将用于确定哪种人类行为模型最适合生成的数据。