Abstract
In order to fully understand human evolutionary history through the use of molecular data, it is essential to include our closest relatives as a comparison. We provide here estimates of nucleotide diversity and effective population size of modern African ape species using data from several independent noncoding nuclear loci, and use these estimates to make predictions about the nature of the ancestral population that eventually gave rise to the living species of African apes, including humans. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas possess two to three times more nucleotide diversity than modern humans. We hypothesize that the last common ancestor (LCA) of these species had an effective population size more similar to modern apes than modern humans. In addition, estimated dates for the divergence of the Homo, Pan, and Gorilla lineages suggest that the LCA may have had stronger geographic structuring to its mtDNA than its nuclear DNA, perhaps indicative of strong female philopatry or a dispersal system analogous to gorillas, where females disperse only short distances from their natal group. Synthesizing different classes of data, and the inferences drawn from them, allows us to predict some of the genetic and demographic properties of the LCA of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 475-480 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of Heredity |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2001 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:From the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, P.O. Box 208277, New Haven, CT 06520-8277 (Jensen-Seaman and Deinard) and Department of Genetics, Room I-353 SHM, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06520-8005 (Jensen-Seaman, Deinard, and Kidd). Michael I. Jensen-Seaman is currently at the Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53226. Amos S. Deinard is currently at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616. We gratefully acknowledge all of the zoos, primate centers, and colleagues who generously provided blood, hair, or DNA samples of apes. We thank Dr. J. R. Kidd for providing human DNA samples. We thank Drs. O. A. Ryder and S. J. O’Brien for inviting us to submit this manuscript. This research was supported by National Science Foundation grants SBR 9900100 (to M.I.J.-S.) and SBR 9315871 (to A.S.D.). Address correspondence to Kenneth K. Kidd at the address above or e-mail: kidd@biomed. med.yale.edu. This paper was delivered at a symposium entitled ‘‘Primate Evolutionary Genetics’’ sponsored by the American Genetic Association at Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, CA, USA, May 19–20, 2001.
