Human genetic differentiation across the Strait of Gibraltar

[Centurion]

Human genetic differentiation across the Strait of Gibraltar // BMC Evolutionary Biology 2010, 10:237

Currat et al

The Strait of Gibraltar is a crucial area in the settlement history of modern
humans because it represents a possible connection between Africa and Europe. So far,
genetic data were inconclusive about the fact that this strait constitutes a barrier to gene flow,
as previous results were highly variable depending on the genetic locus studied. The present
study evaluates the impact of the Gibraltar region in reducing gene flow between populations
from North-Western Africa and South-Western Europe, by comparing formally various
genetic loci. First, we compute several statistics of population differentiation. Then, we use an
original simulation approach in order to infer the most probable evolutionary scenario for the
settlement of the area, taking into account the effects of both demography and natural
selection at some loci.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-10-237.pdf