Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30008065›Full record

ArticleHuman genetics2018

A genome scan for genes underlying adult body size differences between Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers.

Trevor J Pemberton, Paul Verdu, Noémie S Becker, Cristen J Willer, Barry S Hewlett, Sylvie Le Bomin, Alain Froment, Noah A Rosenberg, Evelyne Heyer

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Human genetics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.

Trevor J PembertonDepartment of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Trevor.Pemberton@umanitoba.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1224-1146
Paul VerduCNRS-MNHN-Université Paris Diderot, UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, Paris, France. verdu@mnhn.fr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6828-268X
Noémie S BeckerDivision of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
Cristen J WillerDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5645-4966
Barry S HewlettDepartment of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA, USA.
Sylvie Le BominCNRS-MNHN-Université Paris Diderot, UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, Paris, France.
Alain FromentIRD-MNHN, UMR 208 Patrimoines locaux, Paris, France.
Noah A RosenbergDepartment of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. noahr@stanford.edu.
Evelyne HeyerCNRS-MNHN-Université Paris Diderot, UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, Paris, France. heyer@mnhn.fr.
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · FRÉco-Anthropologie · FRStanford Medicine · USUniversity of Manitoba · CAUniversity of Michigan · USWashington State University Vancouver · US

Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada RGPIN-2015-04739
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The evolutionary and biological bases of the Central African "pygmy" phenotype, a characteristic of rainforest hunter-gatherers defined by reduced body size compared with neighboring farmers, remain largely unknown. Here, we perform a joint investigation in Central African hunter-gatherers and farmers of adult standing height, sitting height, leg length, and body mass index (BMI), considering 358 hunter-gatherers and 169 farmers with genotypes for 153,798 SNPs. In addition to reduced standing heights, hunter-gatherers have shorter sitting heights and leg lengths and higher sitting/standing height ratios than farmers and lower BMI for males. Standing height, sitting height, and leg length are strongly correlated with inferred levels of farmer genetic ancestry, whereas BMI is only weakly correlated, perhaps reflecting greater contributions of non-genetic factors to body weight than to height. Single- and multi-marker association tests identify one region and eight genes associated with hunter-gatherer/farmer status, and 24 genes associated with the height-related traits. Many of these genes have putative functions consistent with roles in determining their associated traits and the pygmy phenotype, and they include three associated with standing height in non-Africans (PRKG1, DSCAM, MAGI2). We find evidence that European height-associated SNPs or variants in linkage disequilibrium with them contribute to standing- and sitting-height determination in Central Africans, but not to the differential status of hunter-gatherers and farmers. These findings provide new insights into the biological basis of the pygmy phenotype, and they highlight the potential of cross-population studies for exploring the genetic basis of phenotypes that vary naturally across populations.

Indexed as

Genome, HumanGenotypePolymorphism, Single NucleotideRural PopulationAfrica, CentralBlack PeopleBody HeightFemaleHumansLinkage DisequilibriumMale

Identifiers

PMID30008065
OpenAlexW2883775714

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.