Full Description
One of the major themes of human population genetics is assaying genetic variation in human populations. The ultimate goal of this objective is to understand the extent of genetic diversity and the use of this knowledge to reconstruct our evolutionary history. The discipline had undergone a revolutionary transition with the advent of molecular techniques in the 1980s. With this shift, statistical methods have also been developed to perceive the biological and molecular basis of human genetic variation.
Using the new perspectives gained during the above transition, this volume describes the applications of molecular markers spanning the autosomal, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial genome in the analysis of human diversity in contemporary populations. This is the first reference book of its kind to bring together data from these diverse sets of markers for understanding evolutionary histories and relationships of modern humans in a single volume.
Contents
1. Classical to Molecular Polymorphisms: Population Genetic Studies from the Indian Sub-Continent.- 2. Variability in nDNA, mtDNA, and Proteins: A Test Case.- 3. Genetic Diversity among Five Native American Tribes of Colombia: Evidence from Nine Autosomal Microsatellites.- 4. Trinucleotide Repeats, Genetic Instability and Variation in the Human Genome.- 5. Y-Chromosomal DNA Markers.- 6. On the Genetic Origin of the Turks: Study of Six Y-Chromosomal Short Tandem Repeats.- 7. The Origins of Pakistani Populations: Evidence from Y Chromosome Markers.- 8. The Use of Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation to Investigate Population History: Recent Male Spread in Asia and Europe.- 9. A Mitochondrial DNA Database: Applications to Problems of Nomenclature and Population Genetics.- 10. The Trans-Caucasus and the Expansion of the Caucasoid-Specific Human Mitochondrial DNA.- 11. The Place of the Indian Mitochondrial DNA Variants in the Global Network of Maternal Lineages and the Peopling of the Old World.- 12. Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Southwest Pacific.- 13. Molecular Anthropology: Progress and Perspectives on Ancient DNA Technology.- 14. Interspersed Repeat Insertion Polymorphisms for Studies of Human Molecular Anthropology.- 15. Worldwide Distribution of a PolymorphicAluInsertion in the Progesterone Receptor Gene.- 16. Statistical Issues Regarding the Use of Microsatellite Loci for Molecular Anthropological Studies.- Epilogue.- Corresponding Authors.
