Genetic Clues to Dispersal in Human Populations: Retracing the Past from the Present
Rebecca L. Cann
Ongoing debate about proper interpretation of DNA
sequence polymorphisms and their ability to reconstruct human
population history illustrates a important change in perspective that
we have achieved in the past 20 years of population genetics. To what
extent does the history of a locus represent the history of a
population? Tools originally developed for molecular systematics, where
genetic lineages have been separated by speciation events, are
routinely applied to the analysis of variation within our species, with
conflicting results. Because of automated technologies and linkage
analysis, we are poised to harvest a wealth of information about our
past, if we are successful in moving beyond a current polarization
regarding models of human evolution. Rather than just suggesting that
true resolution will only come by considering fossil or archaeological
evidence, the realistic and appropriate application of genetic models
for analysis of population structure is also necessary. Three examples
from different dispersal events are highlighted here.
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, John A. Burns School of
Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu,
HI 96822, USA. E-mail: rcann{at}hawaii.edu
