title: [The ecologic component of the geographic variation of the Northern Eurasian gene pool and its archaeological age].
abstract: The problem of the relationship between the state of the gene pool and population health was formulated. The subdivision into latitudinal zones, which is a characteristic feature of the northern Eurasian gene pool, was studied. This subdivision was expressed in the geographical distribution of the second principal component (PC2.G) of the total variance of 100 allelic frequencies for 34 polymorphic loci. It was suggested that this distribution of PC2.G resulted from the genetic adaptation of the population to the latitudinal zonality that is characteristic of northern Eurasia. It was also suggested that the latitudinal geographic variation was not inherent in the northern Eurasian gene pool and was younger than its total historical age. The evolutionary age of the principal components of the gene pool was estimated based on the geography of the principal components of the geographic variability of the late Paleolithic material culture, as well as the paleogeography of the Quaternary period. It was demonstrated that the first principal component of the modern gene pool was almost completely formed in the late Pleistocene; hence, its age is at least 16,000-26,000 years. The age of the second principal component (PC2.G) was estimated at less than 12,000-15,000 years; it was mostly formed in Holocene. A hypothesis was advanced that genetic adaptation occurs at the cost of population health, with the cost increasing as the evolutionary age of the genetic adaptation decreases. It was suggested that the latitudinal zonality of gene pool was accompanied by a similar zonality in the geography of morbidity as a cost of genetic adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Iu G
authors.initials: IuG
authors.lastname: Rychkov
authors.forename: O V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Zhukova
authors.forename: Iu V
authors.initials: IuV
authors.lastname: Shneĭder
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D001106:Archaeology; D001208:Asia; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D005788:Gene Pool; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic