Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Genetic contributions to variation in human stature in prehistoric Europe

Samantha L. Cox, Christopher B. Ruff, Robert M. Maier, Iain Mathieson
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/690545
Samantha L. Cox
aDepartment of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Christopher B. Ruff
bCenter for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore MD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Robert M. Maier
cProgram in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
dStanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
eAnalytical and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Iain Mathieson
aDepartment of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: mathi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

The relative contributions of genetics and environment to temporal and geographic variation in human height remain largely unknown. Ancient DNA has identified changes in genetic ancestry over time, but it is not clear whether those changes in ancestry are associated with changes in height. Here, we directly test whether changes over the past 38,000 years in European height predicted using DNA from 1071 ancient individuals are consistent with changes observed in 1159 skeletal remains from comparable populations. We show that the observed decrease in height between the Early Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic is qualitatively predicted by genetics. Similarly, both skeletal and genetic height remained constant between the Mesolithic and Neolithic and increased between the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Sitting height changes much less than standing height–consistent with genetic predictions–although genetics predicts a small Bronze Age increase that is not observed in skeletal remains. Geographic variation in stature is also qualitatively consistent with genetic predictions, particularly with respect to latitude. We find that the changes in genetic height between the Neolithic and Bronze Age may be driven by polygenic adaptation. Finally, we hypothesize that an observed decrease in genetic heel bone mineral density in the Neolithic reflects adaptation to the decreased mobility indicated by decreased femoral bending strength. This study provides a model for interpreting phenotypic changes predicted from ancient DNA and demonstrates how they can be combined with phenotypic measurements to understand the relative contribution of genetic and developmentally plastic responses to environmental change.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted July 02, 2019.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Genetic contributions to variation in human stature in prehistoric Europe
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Genetic contributions to variation in human stature in prehistoric Europe
Samantha L. Cox, Christopher B. Ruff, Robert M. Maier, Iain Mathieson
bioRxiv 690545; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/690545
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Genetic contributions to variation in human stature in prehistoric Europe
Samantha L. Cox, Christopher B. Ruff, Robert M. Maier, Iain Mathieson
bioRxiv 690545; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/690545

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Evolutionary Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4085)
  • Biochemistry (8756)
  • Bioengineering (6477)
  • Bioinformatics (23332)
  • Biophysics (11743)
  • Cancer Biology (9144)
  • Cell Biology (13244)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7412)
  • Ecology (11364)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15084)
  • Genetics (10397)
  • Genomics (14006)
  • Immunology (9115)
  • Microbiology (22036)
  • Molecular Biology (8777)
  • Neuroscience (47346)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1420)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2480)
  • Physiology (3703)
  • Plant Biology (8046)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1431)
  • Synthetic Biology (2207)
  • Systems Biology (6014)
  • Zoology (1249)