Ancient Population Genomics

Abstract

Recent advances in genome sequencing technologies and the rapid decline in the cost of sequencing have enabled researchers to study the genomics of ancient populations. In the past decade, ancient population genomic studies led to a number of important discoveries that revealed the (1) relationship between modern and archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, (2) contribution of ancient but anatomically modern humans to the ancestry of populations living today, (3) temporal dynamics of ancient population sizes in response to climate change, (4) role of natural selection in shaping the evolution of phenotypes, (5) origins of animal domestication, (6) divergence times between ancient and modern populations and (7) evolution of human pathogens. Key Concepts Ancient population genomics revolutionised our understanding about past evolutionary and demographic events. Rate of evolution could be estimated using time‐stamped ancient samples. Ancient DNA studies revealed the rise and fall of mammalian population sizes in response to climate change. Reconstructing extinct genomes helped to decipher the signatures of genetic admixture between archaic and modern humans. Present‐day Europeans were derived from three ancient human populations. Ancient genomes helped us to understand the role of adaptive evolution in the past.