Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation.
PLoS Genet
; 13(3): e1006616, 2017 03.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28301464
ABSTRACT
The evolutionary reasons for variation in nose shape across human populations have been subject to continuing debate. An import function of the nose and nasal cavity is to condition inspired air before it reaches the lower respiratory tract. For this reason, it is thought the observed differences in nose shape among populations are not simply the result of genetic drift, but may be adaptations to climate. To address the question of whether local adaptation to climate is responsible for nose shape divergence across populations, we use Qst-Fst comparisons to show that nares width and alar base width are more differentiated across populations than expected under genetic drift alone. To test whether this differentiation is due to climate adaptation, we compared the spatial distribution of these variables with the global distribution of temperature, absolute humidity, and relative humidity. We find that width of the nares is correlated with temperature and absolute humidity, but not with relative humidity. We conclude that some aspects of nose shape may indeed have been driven by local adaptation to climate. However, we think that this is a simplified explanation of a very complex evolutionary history, which possibly also involved other non-neutral forces such as sexual selection.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Adaptación Fisiológica
/
Nariz
/
Clima
/
Genética de Población
Límite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
/
Asia
/
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS Genet
Asunto de la revista:
GENETICA
Año:
2017
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos