TY - JOUR
T1 - The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa
AU - Fortes-Lima, Cesar A.
AU - Burgarella, Concetta
AU - Hammarén, Rickard
AU - Eriksson, Anders
AU - Vicente, Mário
AU - Jolly, Cecile
AU - Semo, Armando
AU - Gunnink, Hilde
AU - Pacchiarotti, Sara
AU - Mundeke, Leon
AU - Matonda, Igor
AU - Muluwa, Joseph Koni
AU - Coutros, Peter
AU - Nyambe, Terry S.
AU - Cikomola, Justin Cirhuza
AU - Coetzee, Vinet
AU - de Castro, Minique
AU - Ebbesen, Peter
AU - Delanghe, Joris
AU - Stoneking, Mark
AU - Barham, Lawrence
AU - Lombard, Marlize
AU - Meyer, Anja
AU - Steyn, Maryna
AU - Malmström, Helena
AU - Rocha, Jorge
AU - Soodyall, Himla
AU - Pakendorf, Brigitte
AU - Bostoen, Koen
AU - Schlebusch, Carina M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2024/1/18
Y1 - 2024/1/18
N2 - The expansion of people speaking Bantu languages is the most dramatic demographic event in Late Holocene Africa and fundamentally reshaped the linguistic, cultural and biological landscape of the continent1–7. With a comprehensive genomic dataset, including newly generated data of modern-day and ancient DNA from previously unsampled regions in Africa, we contribute insights into this expansion that started 6,000–4,000 years ago in western Africa. We genotyped 1,763 participants, including 1,526 Bantu speakers from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and generated whole-genome sequences from 12 Late Iron Age individuals8. We show that genetic diversity amongst Bantu-speaking populations declines with distance from western Africa, with current-day Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as possible crossroads of interaction. Using spatially explicit methods9 and correlating genetic, linguistic and geographical data, we provide cross-disciplinary support for a serial-founder migration model. We further show that Bantu speakers received significant gene flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. Our genetic dataset provides an exhaustive modern-day African comparative dataset for ancient DNA studies10 and will be important to a wide range of disciplines from science and humanities, as well as to the medical sector studying human genetic variation and health in African and African-descendant populations.
AB - The expansion of people speaking Bantu languages is the most dramatic demographic event in Late Holocene Africa and fundamentally reshaped the linguistic, cultural and biological landscape of the continent1–7. With a comprehensive genomic dataset, including newly generated data of modern-day and ancient DNA from previously unsampled regions in Africa, we contribute insights into this expansion that started 6,000–4,000 years ago in western Africa. We genotyped 1,763 participants, including 1,526 Bantu speakers from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and generated whole-genome sequences from 12 Late Iron Age individuals8. We show that genetic diversity amongst Bantu-speaking populations declines with distance from western Africa, with current-day Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as possible crossroads of interaction. Using spatially explicit methods9 and correlating genetic, linguistic and geographical data, we provide cross-disciplinary support for a serial-founder migration model. We further show that Bantu speakers received significant gene flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. Our genetic dataset provides an exhaustive modern-day African comparative dataset for ancient DNA studies10 and will be important to a wide range of disciplines from science and humanities, as well as to the medical sector studying human genetic variation and health in African and African-descendant populations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85177801410&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6
DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38030719
AN - SCOPUS:85177801410
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 625
SP - 540
EP - 547
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7995
ER -