Université de Fribourg

Low prevalence of lactase persistence in bronze age europe indicates ongoing strong selection over the last 3,000 years

Burger, Joachim ; Link, Vivian ; Blöcher, Jens ; Schulz, Anna ; Sell, Christian ; Pochon, Zoé ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Žegarac, Aleksandra ; Hofmanová, Zuzana ; Winkelbach, Laura ; Reyna-Blanco, Carlos S. ; Bieker, Vanessa ; Orschiedt, Jörg ; Brinker, Ute ; Scheu, Amelie ; Leuenberger, Christoph ; Bertino, Thomas S. ; Bollongino, Ruth ; Lidke, Gundula ; Stefanović, Sofija ; Jantzen, Detlef ; Kaiser, Elke ; Terberger, Thomas ; Thomas, Mark G. ; Veeramah, Krishna R. ; Wegmann, Daniel

In: Current Biology, 2020, p. -

Lactase persistence (LP), the continued expression of lactase into adulthood, is the most strongly selected single gene trait over the last 10,000 years in multiple human populations. It has been posited that the primary allele causing LP among Eurasians, rs4988235-A [1], only rose to appreciable frequencies during the Bronze and Iron Ages [2, 3], long after humans started consuming milk from...

Université de Fribourg

Population genomic analysis of elongated skulls reveals extensive female-biased immigration in Early Medieval Bavaria

Veeramah, Krishna R. ; Rott, Andreas ; Groß, Melanie ; Dorp, Lucy van ; López, Saioa ; Kirsanow, Karola ; Sell, Christian ; Blöcher, Jens ; Wegmann, Daniel ; Link, Vivian ; Hofmanová, Zuzana ; Peters, Joris ; Trautmann, Bernd ; Gairhos, Anja ; Haberstroh, Jochen ; Päffgen, Bernd ; Hellenthal, Garrett ; Haas-Gebhard, Brigitte ; Harbeck, Michaela ; Burger, Joachim

In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018, p. 201719880

Modern European genetic structure demonstrates strong correlations with geography, while genetic analysis of prehistoric humans has indicated at least two major waves of immigration from outside the continent during periods of cultural change. However, population-level genome data that could shed light on the demographic processes occurring during the intervening periods have been absent....

Université de Fribourg

Early farmers from across Europe directly descended from Neolithic Aegeans

Hofmanová, Zuzana ; Kreutzer, Susanne ; Hellenthal, Garrett ; Sell, Christian ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Díez-del-Molino, David ; Dorp, Lucy van ; López, Saioa ; Kousathanas, Athanasios ; Link, Vivian ; Kirsanow, Karola ; Cassidy, Lara M. ; Martiniano, Rui ; Strobel, Melanie ; Scheu, Amelie ; Kotsakis, Kostas ; Halstead, Paul ; Triantaphyllou, Sevi ; Kyparissi-Apostolika, Nina ; Urem-Kotsou, Dushka ; Ziota, Christina ; Adaktylou, Fotini ; Gopalan, Shyamalika ; Bobo, Dean M. ; Winkelbach, Laura ; Blöcher, Jens ; Unterländer, Martina ; Leuenberger, Christoph ; Çilingiroğlu, Çiler ; Horejs, Barbara ; Gerritsen, Fokke ; Shennan, Stephen J. ; Bradley, Daniel G. ; Currat, Mathias ; Veeramah, Krishna R. ; Wegmann, Daniel ; Thomas, Mark G. ; Papageorgopoulou, Christina ; Burger, Joachim

In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016, vol. 113, no. 25, p. 6886–6891

Farming and sedentism first appeared in southwestern Asia during the early Holocene and later spread to neighboring regions, including Europe, along multiple dispersal routes. Conspicuous uncertainties remain about the relative roles of migration, cultural diffusion, and admixture with local foragers in the early Neolithization of Europe. Here we present paleogenomic data for five Neolithic...