Internal diversification of non‐Sub‐Saharan haplogroups in Sahelian populations and the spread of pastoralism beyond the Sahara

Kulichová, Iva; Fernandes, Verónica; Dème, Alioune; Nováčková, Jana; Stenzl, Vlastimil; Novelletto, Andrea; Pereira, Luı́sa; Černý, Viktor

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23285

Cited by 24 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…It can be added that a north African contribution of NRY markers to the Fulani pastoralists’ gene pool was also documented previously through a study of NRY haplogroups’ frequency distributions in wide African data sets . Last but not least, similar age estimates to those inferred for west Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, that is, around 8000 years ago, were obtained by analysing the NRY lineage R1b‐V88, which is again more frequent in the nomadic pastoralists across the Sahel, although not only in the Fulani population …”

Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationssupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Besides population structure, knowledge on the genetic history of the African Sahelian populations was also gained through phylogeographic analyses of haplogroups of Eurasian ancestry, mtDNA U5b1b1b and H1ca1a, and Y chromosome R1b1a. It was shown that these middle/late Holocene‐aged haplogroups are particularly frequent in the Fulani pastoralists, much less in farmer groups. Their age estimates correspond chronologically to the introduction of cattle from the Near East but phylogeography cannot confirm their Near Eastern origin; we have rather to consider, perhaps surprisingly, a west European ancestry of these haplogroups in Africa.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although Fulani speak today a language with clear ties to west Africa (as stated above, Fulfulde is a member of the Niger‐Congo west‐Atlantic subfamily), they display genetic links with both east African and west African and even with Eurasian populations . Contrary to uniparental loci the G516T could reflect an ancestry of the Fulani in eastern or north‐eastern Africa.…”

Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Populations of the Sahel/Savannah belt bear mtDNA haplogroups not only of sub‐Saharan origin but also of west Eurasian, and these occur more frequently among pastoralists (Figure ) . One study on mtDNA lineages H1cb1 and U5b1b1b, that are found almost exclusively among the Fulani, revealed that their internal diversification may correspond to periods when, according to archaeological data, cattle keepers first settled the Sahel/Savannah belt . Interestingly, phylogeography of both these lineages suggests that contemporary Sahelian pastoralists share genetic characteristics with populations of western rather than eastern Mediterranean ancestry, contrarily to what could be expected with a cattle domestication centre in the Near East.…”

Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…68 Last but not least, similar age estimates to those inferred for west Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, that is, around 8000 years ago, were obtained by analysing the NRY lineage R1b-V88, which is again more frequent in the nomadic pastoralists across the Sahel, although not only in the Fulani population. 69 The African Sahel also likely received recent genetic inputs from the Arabian Peninsula. One study evaluated the impact of Arabian gene flow to north-eastern and eastern African populations, and vice versa.…”

Section: Uniparental Mtdna and Nry Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations

Černý

Kulichová

Poloni

et al. 2018

HLA

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From a biogeographic perspective, Africa is subdivided into distinct horizontal belts. Human populations living along the Sahel/Savannah belt south of the Sahara desert have often been overshadowed by extensive studies focusing on other African populations such as hunter-gatherers or Bantu in particular. However, the Sahel together with the Savannah bordering it in the south is a challenging region where people had and still have to cope with harsh climatic conditions and show resilient behaviours. Besides exponentially growing urban populations, several local groups leading various lifestyles and speaking languages belonging to three main linguistic families still live in rural localities across that region today. Thanks to several years of consistent population sampling throughout this area, the genetic history of the African Sahelian populations has been largely reconstructed and a deeper knowledge has been acquired regarding their adaptation to peculiar environments and/or subsistence modes. Distinct exposures to pathogens-in particular, malaria-likely contributed to their genetic differentiation for HLA genes. In addition, although food-producing strategies spread within the Sahel/Savannah belt relatively recently, during the last five millennia according to recent archaeological and archaeobotanical studies, remarkable amounts of genetic differences are also observed between sedentary farmers and more mobile pastoralists at multiple neutral and selected loci, reflecting both demographic effects and genetic adaptations to distinct cultural traits, such as dietary habits.

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Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationssupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Genetic Evidence On Sahelian Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Uniparental Mtdna and Nry Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations

Černý

Kulichová

Poloni

et al. 2018

HLA

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Genetic history of Chad

Shriner

Rotimi

2018

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: The Sahel is a semi-arid zone stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east and from the Sahara in the north to the Sudanian Savanna in the south. Here, we investigated the genetic history of the spread of Northern African ancestry common among Berbers, the Y DNA haplogroup R1b-V88, and Chadic languages throughout the Sahel, with a focus on Chad. Materials and Methods: We integrated and analyzed genotype data from 751 individuals from Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, South Sudan, and Sudan in the context of a global reference panel of 5,966 individuals. Results: We found that genetic diversity in Chad was broadly divided by a north-south axis. The core ancestry of Southern Chadians was Central African, most closely related to Pygmies. Southern Chadians then experienced four waves of gene flow over the last 3,000 years from West-Central Africans, Eastern Africans, West-Central Africans again, and then Arabians. In contrast, Northern Chadians did not share Central African ancestry and were not influenced by the first wave of West-Central Africans but were influenced by Northern African ancestry. Discussion: We found that Y DNA haplogroup R1b entered the Chadian gene pool during Baggarization. Baggara Arabs spoke Arabic, not Chadic, implying that people carrying R1b-V88 were not responsible for the spread of Chadic languages, which may have spread approximately 3,700 years ago. We found no evidence for migration of Near Eastern farmers or any ancient episodes involving Eurasian backflow.

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Nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers of the Sahel/Savannah Belt of Africa in the light of geometric morphometrics based on facial portraits

Kleisner

Pokorný

Čížková

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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ObjectivesThe Sahel/Savannah belt is a region where two sympatric human subsistence strategies—nomadic pastoralism and sedentary farming—have been coexisting for millennia. While earlier studies focused on estimating population differentiation and genetic structure of this ecologically remarkable region's inhabitants, less effort has been expended on understanding the morphological variation among local populations.Materials and methodsTo fill this gap, we used geometric morphometrics to analyze the facial features of three groups of pastoralists and three groups of sedentary farmers belonging to three language families (Niger‐Congo, Nilo‐Saharan, and Afro‐Asiatic) whose mitochondrial DNA sequences have been published previously.ResultsOur results show that pastoralists differ from farmers with several facial features. We also found that individuals who bear maternally inherited haplotypes of Eurasian ancestry do not significantly morphologically differ from individuals whose maternal ancestry is sub‐Saharan.ConclusionsOur study follows up and builds upon population genetic and phylogeographic studies of Eurasian haplogroups in the Fulani pastoralists and sub‐Saharan haplogroups in the Arab pastoralists, as well as studies on the spread of lactase persistence mutations and other genetic markers. Our results suggest that recent gene flows across the Sahel/Savannah belt were not strong enough to erase a genetic structure established by Paleolithic foragers and further shaped by the adoption of agropastoral food‐producing strategies.

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Internal diversification of non‐Sub‐Saharan haplogroups in Sahelian populations and the spread of pastoralism beyond the Sahara

Cited by 24 publications

References 74 publications

Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations

Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations

Genetic history of Chad

Nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers of the Sahel/Savannah Belt of Africa in the light of geometric morphometrics based on facial portraits

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