The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2024

Authors

Fortes-Lima, CA (Author) Other; Burgarella, C (Author) Other; Hammarén, R (Author) Other; Eriksson, A (Author) Other; Vicente, M (Author) Other; Jolly, C (Author) Other; Semo, A (Author) Other; Gunnink, H (Author) Other; Pacchiarotti, S (Author) Other; Mundeke, L (Author) Other; Matonda, I (Author) Other; Muluwa, JK (Author) Other; Coutros, P (Author) Other; Nyambe, TS (Author) Other; Cikomola, JC (Author) Other; Coetzee, V (Author) Other; de Castro, M (Author) Other; Ebbesen, P (Author) Other; Delanghe, J (Author) Other; Stoneking, M (Author) Other; Barham, L (Author) Other; Lombard, M (Author) Other; Meyer, A (Author) Other; Steyn, M (Author) Other; Malmström, H (Author) Other; Rocha, J (Author) FCUP; Soodyall, H (Author) Other; Pakendorf, B (Author) Other; Bostoen, K (Author) Other; Schlebusch, CM (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Nature

Vol. 625

Pages: 540-547

ISSN: 0028-0836

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Z-G7W

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6

Abstract (EN): 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. We gathered genetic data for 1,763 individuals from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and 12 Late Iron Age individuals, to trace the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples over the past 6,000 years.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 24