ArticlePloS one2015
Detection of convergent genome-wide signals of adaptation to tropical forests in humans.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic insights into the peoples who shaped the American continent.Genetics and molecular biology · 2026Article
- The first complete mitochondrial genome of Sumatran striped rabbit Nesolagus netscheri (Schlegel, 1880), and its phylogenetic relationship with other Leporidae.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Indigenous people from Amazon show genetic signatures of pathogen-driven selection.Science advances · 2023Article
- A review of ancestrality and admixture in Latin America and the caribbean focusing on native American and African descendant populations.Frontiers in genetics · 2023Review
- Uncovering Signals of Positive Selection in Peruvian Populations from Three Ecological Regions.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- The genetic structure and adaptation of Andean highlanders and Amazonians are influenced by the interplay between geography and culture.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Ambient Temperature is A Strong Selective Factor Influencing Human Development and Immunity.Genomics, proteomics & bioinformatics · 2020Article
- What can be learned by scanning the genome for molecular convergence in wild populations?Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2020Review
- Postadmixture Selection on Chileans Targets Haplotype Involved in Pigmentation, Thermogenesis and Immune Defense against Pathogens.Genome biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Detection and Classification of Hard and Soft Sweeps from Unphased Genotypes by Multilocus Genotype Identity.Genetics · 2018Article
- Genomes reveal marked differences in the adaptive evolution between orangutan species.Genome biology · 2018Article
- Locomotor constraints favour the evolution of the human pygmy phenotype in tropical rainforests.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Detection of Pathways Affected by Positive Selection in Primate Lineages Ancestral to Humans.Molecular biology and evolution · 2017Article
- Finding the Genomic Basis of Local Adaptation: Pitfalls, Practical Solutions, and Future Directions.The American naturalist · 2016Review
- Molecular Signatures of Natural Selection for Polymorphic Genes of the Human Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Systems: A Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2016Review
- The role of natural selection in human evolution - insights from Latin America.Genetics and molecular biologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Tropical forests are believed to be very harsh environments for human life. It is unclear whether human beings would have ever subsisted in those environments without external resources. It is therefore possible that humans have developed recent biological adaptations in response to specific selective pressures to cope with this challenge. To understand such biological adaptations we analyzed genome-wide SNP data under a Bayesian statistics framework, looking for outlier markers with an overly large extent of differentiation between populations living in a tropical forest, as compared to genetically related populations living outside the forest in Africa and the Americas. The most significant positive selection signals were found in genes related to lipid metabolism, the immune system, body development, and RNA Polymerase III transcription initiation. The results are discussed in the light of putative tropical forest selective pressures, namely food scarcity, high prevalence of pathogens, difficulty to move, and inefficient thermoregulation. Agreement between our results and previous studies on the pygmy phenotype, a putative prototype of forest adaptation, were found, suggesting that a few genetic regions previously described as associated with short stature may be evolving under similar positive selection in Africa and the Americas. In general, convergent evolution was less pervasive than local adaptation in one single continent, suggesting that Africans and Amerindians may have followed different routes to adapt to similar environmental selective pressures.
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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.