ArticlePloS one2023
Nuclear genetic diversity of head lice sheds light on human dispersal around the world.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- DNA Barcoding of Head Lice from a ~1500-Year-Old Salt-Preserved Mummy from the Chehrabad Salt Mine, Iran.Insects · 2026Article
- Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Phylogenetic Characterization of Pediculus humanus capitis Among Primary Schoolchildren in Algeria.Acta parasitologica · 2026Article
- The Prevalence of Pediculosis in Southern Iran From 2016 to 2021.Journal of tropical medicine · 2025Article
- Genotyping specimens of human lice from a centenary entomological collection.Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2025Article
- Population genomics of seal lice provides insights into the postglacial history of northern European seals.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The human louse, Pediculus humanus, is an obligate blood-sucking ectoparasite that has coevolved with humans for millennia. Given the intimate relationship between this parasite and the human host, the study of human lice has the potential to shed light on aspects of human evolution that are difficult to interpret using other biological evidence. In this study, we analyzed the genetic variation in 274 human lice from 25 geographic sites around the world by using nuclear microsatellite loci and female-inherited mitochondrial DNA sequences. Nuclear genetic diversity analysis revealed the presence of two distinct genetic clusters I and II, which are subdivided into subclusters: Ia-Ib and IIa-IIb, respectively. Among these samples, we observed the presence of the two most common louse mitochondrial haplogroups: A and B that were found in both nuclear Clusters I and II. Evidence of nuclear admixture was uncommon (12%) and was predominate in the New World potentially mirroring the history of colonization in the Americas. These findings were supported by novel DIYABC simulations that were built using both host and parasite data to define parameters and models suggesting that admixture between cI and cII was very recent. This pattern could also be the result of a reproductive barrier between these two nuclear genetic clusters. In addition to providing new evolutionary knowledge about this human parasite, our study could guide the development of new analyses in other host-parasite systems.
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Registered trials
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