Award details

The genetic legacy of early Neolithic farmers

Reference	BB/C007123/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Francois Balloux
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	University of Cambridge
Department	Genetics
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	243,936
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/06/2005
End date	30/11/2007
Duration	30 months

Abstract

There is a broad consensus that agriculture first appeared in the Fertile Crescent and that agricultural techniques rapidly spread throughout Europe. It is however unclear whether the presence of agricultural artefacts indicates a wave of expansion of Neolithic farmers displacing previously established populations or simply the spread of farming practices. The classical population genetics view first championed by Cavalli-Sforza and colleagues points to a wave of advance of farming populations displacing the local populations, and thus suggesting a mainly Neolithic origin of the gene pool of Western Europe (80 per cent). However some recent work based on different data and statistical methodologies reached strikingly different conclusions, with the Neolithic component of the European gene pool being estimated to be around 15 per cent to 20 per cent. Both camps are currently entrenched and while this debate may to some extent be solved by the development of more sophisticated statistical methods, failure to resolve this key debate appears in the main due to the small and highly biased sample available to represent the descendents of early Neolithic farmers. This prompted us to collect a large sample (2,500) from 23 ethnic groups in Iran. These will be analysed for both Y chromosome (SNPs and STRs) and mtDNA polymorphisms (HVI and a few diagnostic SNPs). We will analyse the genetic diversity and its apportionement at this regional scale, trying in particular to identify populations that might be most related to the early Neolithic farmers, thus providing a better idea of their genetic makeup. We will then pool this new sample with existing data to obtain improved estimates of the proportion of Neolithic ancestry in the European gene pool. These new data should also help clarifying the spread of Indo-European languages and allow tackling the spread of agriculture east and southwards.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Genes & Developmental Biology (GDB)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

Associated awards:

BB/C007123/2 The genetic legacy of early Neolithic farmers

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