Impact of Genome Diversity on Human Evolutionary Adaptations

The ability to define the evolutionary history of modern humans, and in parallel the evolution of human adaptation and disease, has been dramatically advanced by the ability to contrast and compare patterns of DNA sequence variation between different contemporary populations. Analyses of these patterns of variation have suggested that the most divergent human lineages may derive from the ancient people that populated the most Southern region of Africa. Contemporary hunter-gatherers provide an opportunity to study one of the most significant global human events, adaptation from a forager to an agricultural existence beginning roughly 12-10 thousand years ago. This event is believed to have had significant impact on the human genome, shaping not only all modern humans, but also dramatically impacting human response to environmental challenges. This presentation will look at lesson learnt from examining genome diversity within arguably the oldest forager human lineages, the Khoesan peoples of southern Africa.