The history and evolution of the Denisovan-EPAS1 haplotype in Tibetans

Author

Xinjun Zhang
Kelsey E. Witt
Mayra M. Bañuelos
Amy Ko
Kai Yuan
Shuhua Xu
Rasmus Nielsen
Emilia Huerta-Sanchez

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Publication Date

6-1-2021

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume Number

118

Issue Number

22

Abstract

Significance The discovery of the archaic Denisovan hominins is one of the most significant findings in human evolutionary biology in the last decade. However, as of today, we have more questions than answers regarding this mysterious hominin group. This study leverages the information from the well-known example of adaptive introgression on the EPAS1 gene in Tibetans, to gain insight on the history of our species’ interaction with Denisovans. We show that the Tibetan- EPAS1 haplotype came from the East Asian-specific Denisovan introgression event, and it remained selectively neutral for a long time in the population before positive selection occurred, which may be concurrent with the permanent inhabitation of the Tibetan Plateau after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020803118

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Zhang, Xinjun; Witt, Kelsey E.; Bañuelos, Mayra M.; Ko, Amy; Yuan, Kai; Xu, Shuhua; Nielsen, Rasmus; and Huerta-Sanchez, Emilia, "The history and evolution of the Denisovan-EPAS1 haplotype in Tibetans" (2021). KIP Articles. 9873.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/9873