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Human bony labyrinth is an indicator of population history and dispersal from Africa.

  • Ponce de León MS Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Koesbardiati T Department of Anthropology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, 60115 Jawa Timur, Indonesia.
  • Weissmann JD Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Milella M Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Reyna-Blanco CS Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Berne, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
  • Suwa G The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Hongo, 113-0033 Tokyo, Japan.
  • Kondo O Department of Biological Sciences (Anthropology), University of Tokyo, Hongo, 113-0033 Tokyo, Japan.
  • Malaspinas AS Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Berne, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
  • White TD Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140 timwhite@berkeley.edu zolli@aim.uzh.ch.
  • Zollikofer CPE Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland; timwhite@berkeley.edu zolli@aim.uzh.ch.
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  • 2018-04-04
Published in:
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2018
bony labyrinth
human dispersals
morphometrics
stabilizing selection
Africa
Anatomy, Comparative
Animals
Biological Evolution
Cephalometry
Ear, Inner
History, Ancient
Human Genome Project
Human Migration
Humans
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Phenotype
Primates
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
English The dispersal of modern humans from Africa is now well documented with genetic data that track population history, as well as gene flow between populations. Phenetic skeletal data, such as cranial and pelvic morphologies, also exhibit a dispersal-from-Africa signal, which, however, tends to be blurred by the effects of local adaptation and in vivo phenotypic plasticity, and that is often deteriorated by postmortem damage to skeletal remains. These complexities raise the question of which skeletal structures most effectively track neutral population history. The cavity system of the inner ear (the so-called bony labyrinth) is a good candidate structure for such analyses. It is already fully formed by birth, which minimizes postnatal phenotypic plasticity, and it is generally well preserved in archaeological samples. Here we use morphometric data of the bony labyrinth to show that it is a surprisingly good marker of the global dispersal of modern humans from Africa. Labyrinthine morphology tracks genetic distances and geography in accordance with an isolation-by-distance model with dispersal from Africa. Our data further indicate that the neutral-like pattern of variation is compatible with stabilizing selection on labyrinth morphology. Given the increasingly important role of the petrous bone for ancient DNA recovery from archaeological specimens, we encourage researchers to acquire 3D morphological data of the inner ear structures before any invasive sampling. Such data will constitute an important archive of phenotypic variation in present and past populations, and will permit individual-based genotype-phenotype comparisons.
Language
  • English
Open access status
hybrid
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/185145
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