Evolutionary responses to a constructed niche: Ancient Mesoamericans as a model 2 of gene-culture coevolution

TÁBITA HÜNEMEIER; CARLOS EDUARDO GUERRA AMORIM; DE AZEVEDO, SOLEDAD; VERONICA CONTINI; VÍCTOR ACUÑA-ALONZO; FRANCISCO ROTHHAMMER; JEAN-MICHEL DUGOUJON; STEPHANE MAZIÈRES; RAMIRO BARRANTES; MARÍA TERESA VILLARREAL-MOLINA; VANESSA RODRIGUES PAIXÃO-CÔRTES; FRANCISCO M. SALZANO; SAMUEL CANIZALES-QUINTEROS; ANDRES RUIZ-LINARES; MARIA CÁTIRA BORTOLINI

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2012 vol. 7 p. 1 - 10

1932-6203

Culture and genetics rely on two distinct but not isolated transmission systems. Cultural 32 processes may change the human selective environment and thereby affect which 33 individuals survive and reproduce. Here, we evaluated whether the modes of 34 subsistence in Native American populations and the frequencies of the 35 ABCA1*Arg230Cys polymorphism were correlated. Further, we examined whether the 36 evolutionary consequences of the agriculturally constructed niche in Mesoamerica could 37 be considered as a gene-culture coevolution model. For this purpose, we genotyped 229 38 individuals affiliated with 19 Native American populations and added data for 41 other 39 Native American groups (n = 1905) to the analysis. In combination with the SNP cluster 40 of a neutral region, this dataset was then used to unravel the scenario involved in 41 230Cys evolutionary history. The estimated age of 230Cys is compatible with its origin 42 occurring in the American continent. The correlation of its frequencies with the 43 archeological data on Zea pollen in Mesoamerica/Central America, the neutral 44 coalescent simulations, and the FST-based natural selection analysis suggest that maize 45 domestication was the driving force in the increase in the frequencies of 230Cys in this 46 region. These results may represent the first example of a gene-culture coevolution 47 involving an autochthonous American allele.