Abstract
The shift from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural mode of subsistence is believed to have been associated with profound changes in the burden and diversity of pathogens across human populations. Yet, the extent to which the advent of agriculture affected the evolution of the human immune system remains unknown. Here we present a comparative study of variation in the transcriptional responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to bacterial and viral stimuli between Batwa rainforest hunter-gatherers and Bakiga agriculturalists from Uganda. We observed increased divergence between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists in the early transcriptional response to viruses compared with that for bacterial stimuli. We demonstrate that a significant fraction of these transcriptional differences are under genetic control and we show that positive natural selection has helped to shape population differences in immune regulation. Across the set of genetic variants underlying inter-population immune-response differences, however, the signatures of positive selection were disproportionately observed in the rainforest hunter-gatherers. This result is counter to expectations on the basis of the popularized notion that shifts in pathogen exposure due to the advent of agriculture imposed radically heightened selective pressures in agriculturalist populations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1253-1264 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Nature Ecology and Evolution |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2019 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Ecology
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}
Natural selection contributed to immunological differences between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. / Harrison, Genelle F.; Sanz, Joaquin; Boulais, Jonathan; Mina, Michael J.; Grenier, Jean Christophe; Leng, Yumei; Dumaine, Anne; Yotova, Vania; Bergey, Christina M.; Nsobya, Samuel L.; Elledge, Stephen J.; Schurr, Erwin; Quintana-Murci, Lluis; Perry, George H.; Barreiro, Luis B.
In: Nature Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 3, No. 8, 01.08.2019, p. 1253-1264.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural selection contributed to immunological differences between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists
AU - Harrison, Genelle F.
AU - Sanz, Joaquin
AU - Boulais, Jonathan
AU - Mina, Michael J.
AU - Grenier, Jean Christophe
AU - Leng, Yumei
AU - Dumaine, Anne
AU - Yotova, Vania
AU - Bergey, Christina M.
AU - Nsobya, Samuel L.
AU - Elledge, Stephen J.
AU - Schurr, Erwin
AU - Quintana-Murci, Lluis
AU - Perry, George H.
AU - Barreiro, Luis B.
PY - 2019/8/1
Y1 - 2019/8/1
N2 - The shift from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural mode of subsistence is believed to have been associated with profound changes in the burden and diversity of pathogens across human populations. Yet, the extent to which the advent of agriculture affected the evolution of the human immune system remains unknown. Here we present a comparative study of variation in the transcriptional responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to bacterial and viral stimuli between Batwa rainforest hunter-gatherers and Bakiga agriculturalists from Uganda. We observed increased divergence between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists in the early transcriptional response to viruses compared with that for bacterial stimuli. We demonstrate that a significant fraction of these transcriptional differences are under genetic control and we show that positive natural selection has helped to shape population differences in immune regulation. Across the set of genetic variants underlying inter-population immune-response differences, however, the signatures of positive selection were disproportionately observed in the rainforest hunter-gatherers. This result is counter to expectations on the basis of the popularized notion that shifts in pathogen exposure due to the advent of agriculture imposed radically heightened selective pressures in agriculturalist populations.
AB - The shift from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural mode of subsistence is believed to have been associated with profound changes in the burden and diversity of pathogens across human populations. Yet, the extent to which the advent of agriculture affected the evolution of the human immune system remains unknown. Here we present a comparative study of variation in the transcriptional responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to bacterial and viral stimuli between Batwa rainforest hunter-gatherers and Bakiga agriculturalists from Uganda. We observed increased divergence between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists in the early transcriptional response to viruses compared with that for bacterial stimuli. We demonstrate that a significant fraction of these transcriptional differences are under genetic control and we show that positive natural selection has helped to shape population differences in immune regulation. Across the set of genetic variants underlying inter-population immune-response differences, however, the signatures of positive selection were disproportionately observed in the rainforest hunter-gatherers. This result is counter to expectations on the basis of the popularized notion that shifts in pathogen exposure due to the advent of agriculture imposed radically heightened selective pressures in agriculturalist populations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069912062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85069912062&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0947-6
DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0947-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 31358949
AN - SCOPUS:85069912062
VL - 3
SP - 1253
EP - 1264
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
SN - 2397-334X
IS - 8
ER -