title: Minisatellite diversity supports a recent African origin for modern humans.
abstract: In a study of human diversity at a highly variable locus, we have mapped the internal structures of tandem-repetitive alleles from different populations at the minisatellite MS205 (D16S309). The results give an unusually detailed view of the different allelic structures represented on modern human chromosomes, and of the ancestral relationships between them. There was a clear difference in allelic diversity between African and non-African populations. A restricted set of allele families was found in non-African populations, and formed a subset of the much greater diversity seen on African chromosomes. The data strongly support a recent African origin for modern human diversity at this locus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Armour
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anttinen
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sajantila
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kidd
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bertranpetit
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pääbo
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Jeffreys
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004276:DNA, Satellite