Genomics at the origins of agriculture, part one

作者：George J. Armelagos, Kristin Nicole Harper · 发表于：Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · 年份：2005 · DOI：10.1002/evan.20047 · 被引用次数：94 · 研究领域：Forensic and Genetic Research、Identification and Quantification in Food、Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

The causes and consequences of the Neolithic revolution represent a fundamental problem for anthropological inquiry. Traditional archeological evidence, ethnobotanical remains, artifacts, and settlement patterns have been used to infer the transition from foraging to primary food production. Recent advances in genomics (the study of the sequence, structure, and function of the genome) has enhanced our understanding of the process of plant and animal domestication, revealed the impact that adaptation to agriculture has had on human biology, and provided clues to the pathogens and parasites thought to have emerged during the Neolithic. Genomic analysis provides insights into the complexity of the process of domestication that may not be apparent from the physical remains of bones and seeds, and allows us to measure the impact that the shift to primary food production had on the human genome. Questions related to the location and the process of domestication can be answered more fully by analyzing the genomes of the plants and animals brought under human control. The spread of the agriculture package (plants, animals, and technology) by cultural diffusion or demic expansion can also be investigated through this approach. Whether dissemination by farmers or the diffusion of farming knowledge and technology was the source of the Neolithic expansion, this process should be revealed by the patterh of genetic and linguistic diversity and language found from centers of agricultural Ne...