Global patterns of sex-biased migrations in humans
Chuan-Chao Wang, Li Jin, Hui Li
(Submitted on 29 Oct 2013)

A series of studies have revealed the among-population components of genetic variation are higher for the paternal Y chromosome than for the maternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which indicates sex-biased migrations in human populations. However, this phenomenon might be also an ascertainment bias due to nonrandom sampling of SNPs. To eliminate the possible bias, we used the whole Y chromosome and mtDNA sequence data of 491 individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project Phase I to address the sex-biased migration dispute. We found that genetic differentiation between populations was higher for Y chromosome than for the mtDNA at global scales. The migration rate of female might be three times higher than that of male, assuming the effective population size is the same for male and female.

Speciation and introgression between Mimulus nasutus and Mimulus guttatus
Yaniv Brandvain, Amanda M. Kenney, Lex Flagel, Graham Coop, Andrea L Sweigart
(Submitted on 26 Oct 2013)

Mimulus guttatus and M. nasutus are an evolutionary and ecological model sister species pair differentiated by ecology, mating system, and partial reproductive isolation. Despite extensive research on this system, the history of divergence and differentiation in this sister pair is unclear. We present and analyze a novel population genomic data set which shows that M. nasutus “budded” off of a central Californian M. guttatus population within the last 200 to 500 thousand years. In this time, the M. nasutus genome has accrued numerous genomic signatures of the transition to predominant selfing. Despite clear biological differentiation, we document ongoing, bidirectional introgression. We observe a negative relationship between the recombination rate and divergence between M. nasutus and sympatric M. guttatus samples, suggesting that selection acts against M. nasutus ancestry in M. guttatus.

Discovery of Phylogenetic Relevant Y-chromosome Variants in 1000 Genomes Project Data
Chuan-Chao Wang, Hui Li
(Submitted on 24 Oct 2013)

Current Y chromosome research is limited in the poor resolution of Y chromosome phylogenetic tree. Entirely sequenced Y chromosomes in numerous human individuals have only recently become available by the advent of next-generation sequencing technology. The 1000 Genomes Project has sequenced Y chromosomes from more than 1000 males. Here, we analyzed 1000 Genomes Project Y chromosome data of 1269 individuals and discovered about 25,000 phylogenetic relevant SNPs. Those new markers are useful in the phylogeny of Y chromosome and will lead to an increased phylogenetic resolution for many Y chromosome studies.

Natural selection on human Y chromosomes
Chuan-Chao Wang, Li Jin, Hui Li
(Submitted on 22 Oct 2013)

The paternally inherited Y chromosome has been widely used in population genetic studies to understand relationships among human populations. Our interpretation of Y chromosomal evidence about population history and genetics has rested on the assumption that all the Y chromosomal markers in the male-specific region (MSY) are selectively neutral. However, the very low diversity of Y chromosome has drawn a long debate about whether natural selection has affected this chromosome or not. In recent several years, the progress in Y chromosome sequencing has helped to address this dispute. Purifying selection has been detected in the X-degenerate genes of human Y chromosomes and positive selection might also have an influence in the evolution of testis-related genes in the ampliconic regions. Those new findings remind us to take the effect of natural selection into account when we use Y chromosome in population genetic studies.

Convergence of Y chromosome STR haplotypes from different SNP haplogroups compromises accuracy of haplogroup prediction
Chuan-Chao Wang, Ling-Xiang Wang, Rukesh Shrestha, Shaoqing Wen, Manfei Zhang, Xinzhu Tong, Li Jin, Hui Li
(Submitted on 21 Oct 2013)

Short tandem repeats (STRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are two kinds of commonly used markers in Y chromosome studies of forensic and population genetics. There has been increasing interest in the cost saving strategy by using the STR haplotypes to predict SNP haplogroups. However, the convergence of Y chromosome STR haplotypes from different haplogroups might compromise the accuracy of haplogroup prediction. Here, we compared the worldwide Y chromosome lineages at both haplogroup level and haplotype level to search for the possible haplotype similarities among haplogroups. The similar haplotypes between haplogroups B and I2, C1 and E1b1b1, C2 and E1b1a1, H1 and J, L and O3a2c1, O1a and N, O3a1c and O3a2b, and M1 and O3a2 have been found, and those similarities reduce the accuracy of prediction.

Neutral genomic regions refine models of recent rapid human population growth
Elodie Gazave, Li Ma, Diana Chang, Alex Coventry, Feng Gao, Donna Muzny, Eric Boerwinkle, Richard Gibbs, Charles F. Sing, Andrew G. Clark, Alon Keinan
(Submitted on 25 Sep 2013)

Human populations have experienced dramatic growth since the Neolithic revolution. Recent studies that sequenced a very large number of individuals observed an extreme excess of rare variants, and provided clear evidence of recent rapid growth in effective population size, though estimates have varied greatly among studies. As medical applications drove the datasets therein, all studies were based on protein-coding genes, in which variants are also impacted by natural selection. In this study, we introduce targeted sequencing data for studying recent human history with minimal confounding by natural selection. We sequenced putatively neutral loci that are very far from genes and that meet a wide array of additional criteria. As population structure also skews allele frequencies, we sequenced a sample of relatively homogeneous ancestry by first analyzing the population structure of 9,716 European Americans. We employed very high coverage sequencing to reliably call rare variants, and fit an extensive array of models of recent European demographic history to the site frequency spectrum. The best-fit model estimates ~3.4% growth per generation during the last ~140 generations, resulting in a population size increase of two orders of magnitude. This model fits the data very well, largely due to our observation that assumptions of more ancient demography can impact estimates of recent growth. This observation and results also shed light on the discrepancy in demographic estimates among recent studies.

Worldwide Patterns of Ancestry, Divergence, and Admixture in Domesticated Cattle
Jared E. Decker, Stephanie D. McKay, Megan M. Rolf, JaeWoo Kim, Antonio Molina Alcalá, Tad S. Sonstegard, Olivier Hanotte, Anders Götherström, Christopher M. Seabury, Lisa Praharani, Masroor Ellahi Babar, Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano, Mehmet Ali Yildiz, Michael P. Heaton, Wansheng Lui, Chu-Zhao Lei, James M. Reecy, Muhammad Saif-Ur-Rehman, Robert D. Schnabel, Jeremy F. Taylor
(Submitted on 19 Sep 2013)

The domestication and development of cattle has considerably impacted human societies, but the histories of cattle breeds have been poorly understood especially for African, Asian, and American breeds. Using genotypes from 43,043 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphism markers scored in 1,543 animals, we evaluate the population structure of 134 domesticated bovid breeds. Regardless of the analytical method or sample subset, the three major groups of Asian indicine, Eurasian taurine, and African taurine were consistently observed. Patterns of geographic dispersal resulting from co-migration with humans and exportation are recognizable in phylogenetic networks. All analytical methods reveal patterns of hybridization which occurred after divergence. Using 19 breeds, we map the cline of indicine introgression into Africa. We infer that African taurine possess a large portion of wild African auroch ancestry, causing their divergence from Eurasian taurine. We detect exportation patterns in Asia and identify a cline of Eurasian taurine/indicine hybridization in Asia. We also identify the influence of species other than Bos taurus in the formation of Asian breeds. We detect the pronounced influence of Shorthorn cattle in the formation of European breeds. Iberian and Italian cattle possess introgression from African taurine. American Criollo cattle are shown to be of Iberian, and not African, decent. Indicine introgression into American cattle occurred in the Americas, and not Europe. We argue that cattle migration, movement and trading followed by admixture have been important forces in shaping modern bovine genomic variation.