ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 y.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 278 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of sunlight exposure on mortality: a systematic review of epidemiological studies.NIHR open research · 2025Pooled it
- A Genome-Wide Association Study of Skin and Iris Pigmentation among Individuals of South Asian Ancestry.Genome biology and evolution · 2019Pooled it
- Evolutionary history of disease-susceptibility loci identified in longitudinal exome-wide association studies.Molecular genetics & genomic medicine · 2019Trial
- Ancient DNA and Human Physiology.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Review
- Ancient DNA as a temporal lens: reconstructing evolution, migration, and disease dynamics.Journal, genetic engineering & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Evolutionary Origin of Ocular Melanoma: Associations With rs12913832 G Allele Frequency and Latitude.Cancer medicine · 2026Observational
- Recovery and analysis of ancient DNA: challenges, methods, and applications in forensic and archaeological science.Journal, genetic engineering & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Haplotype-Based Models Improve Sweep Detection in Ancient Populations with Complex Demography.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Insights into human adaptation from ancient DNA.Nature genetics · 2026Review
- Ancient DNA reveals that natural selection has upregulated the immune system over the last 10,000 years.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The genetic architecture of human skin pigmentation: evolution and adaptation across global populations.Frontiers in genetics · 2026Review
- Polygenic prediction of human complex traits using ancient DNA.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2025Review
- Sparse matrix factorization robust to sample sharing across GWASs reveals interpretable genetic components.American journal of human genetics · 2025Article
- Not by Selection Alone: Expanding the Scope of Gene-Culture Coevolution.Evolutionary anthropology · 2025Review
- Efficient Detection and Characterization of Targets of Natural Selection Using Transfer Learning.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Efficient detection and characterization of targets of natural selection using transfer learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Association of Genetic Polymorphisms in SLC45A2, TYR, HERC2, and SLC24A in African Women with Melasma: A Pilot Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Why humans evolved blue eyes.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Cultural evolution: Where we have been and where we are going (maybe).Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pigmentation is a polygenic trait encompassing some of the most visible phenotypic variation observed in humans. Here we present direct estimates of selection acting on functional alleles in three key genes known to be involved in human pigmentation pathways--HERC2, SLC45A2, and TYR--using allele frequency estimates from Eneolithic, Bronze Age, and modern Eastern European samples and forward simulations. Neutrality was overwhelmingly rejected for all alleles studied, with point estimates of selection ranging from around 2-10% per generation. Our results provide direct evidence that strong selection favoring lighter skin, hair, and eye pigmentation has been operating in European populations over the last 5,000 y.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.