Evolutionary responses to a constructed niche: ancient Mesoamericans as a model of gene-culture coevolution.

Tàbita Hünemeier (1) , Carlos Eduardo Guerra Amorim (1) , Soledad Azevedo (2) , Verônica Contini (1) , Victor Acuña-Alonzo (3) , Francisco Rothhammer (4, 5) , Jean-Michel Dugoujon (6) , Stéphane Mazières (7) , Ramiro Barrantes (8) , Maria Teresa Villarreal-Molina (9) , Vanessa Paixão-Côrtes (1) , Francisco Mauro Salzano (1) , Samuel Canizales-Quinteros (10, 11) , Andrés Ruiz-Linares (12) , Maria C. Bortolini (1)

1 Departamento de Genética
2 CENPAT - Centro Nacional Patagónico
3 Molecular Genetics Laboratory
4 Facultad de Medicina & Instituto de Alta Investigacion
5 Programa de Genética Humana, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas
6 AMIS - Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse
7 ADES - Anthropologie bio-culturelle, Droit, Ethique et Santé
8 Escuela de Biologia
9 Laboratorio de Genomica de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares
10 Unit of Molecular Biology and Genomic Medicine
11 Departamento de Biologìa, Facultad de Quìmica
12 UCL-GEE - Dept of Genetics, Evolution and Environment [London]

Culture and genetics rely on two distinct but not isolated transmission systems. Cultural processes may change the human selective environment and thereby affect which individuals survive and reproduce. Here, we evaluated whether the modes of subsistence in Native American populations and the frequencies of the ABCA1*Arg230Cys polymorphism were correlated. Further, we examined whether the evolutionary consequences of the agriculturally constructed niche in Mesoamerica could be considered as a gene-culture coevolution model. For this purpose, we genotyped 229 individuals affiliated with 19 Native American populations and added data for 41 other Native American groups (n = 1905) to the analysis. In combination with the SNP cluster of a neutral region, this dataset was then used to unravel the scenario involved in 230Cys evolutionary history. The estimated age of 230Cys is compatible with its origin occurring in the American continent. The correlation of its frequencies with the archeological data on Zea pollen in Mesoamerica/Central America, the neutral coalescent simulations, and the F(ST)-based natural selection analysis suggest that maize domestication was the driving force in the increase in the frequencies of 230Cys in this region. These results may represent the first example of a gene-culture coevolution involving an autochthonous American allele.

Domaines: Anthropologie biologique; Génétique des populations [q-bio.PE]

Tàbita Hünemeier, Carlos Eduardo Guerra Amorim, Soledad Azevedo, Verônica Contini, Victor Acuña-Alonzo, et al.. Evolutionary responses to a constructed niche: ancient Mesoamericans as a model of gene-culture coevolution.. PLoS ONE, 2012, 7 (6), pp.e38862. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0038862⟩. ⟨hal-00712617⟩