Overview
- Harvard-led researchers analyzed nearly 16,000 ancient genomes from West Eurasia spanning about 10,000 years and reported widespread directional selection in a Nature paper.
- Variants tied to red hair and lighter skin in the MC1R region rose in frequency, though the authors say the red-hair signal may have hitchhiked with another selected trait.
- A risk variant in HLA-DQB1 associated with coeliac disease increased, with researchers pointing to a likely trade-off because the allele also boosts resistance to some pathogens.
- Other shifts included increases in variants linked to narrower waist-to-hip ratio, lower body fat, faster walking pace, and leprosy resistance, and declines in variants tied to male pattern baldness and rheumatoid arthritis.
- The team says the data roughly double the ancient human DNA record and plans similar studies in East Asia, East Africa, and the Americas, which could refine disease-risk models and guide cautious gene-therapy targets.