chadn737 Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 The classic model of human evolution and genetics has been the Serial Founder model. This assumes that as humans expanded, they did so through a series of smaller founding populations, leading to train of bottlenecks and reduced genetic diversity as humans spread from Africa. This model has profound implications for human genetics, suggesting that many alleles are involved in local adaptation to selective pressure. Two of the most brilliant human geneticists of today, Joseph Pickrell and David Reich have challenged this model and written an excellent review recently that is available freely on Biorxriv. They demonstrate using the most recent genetic evidence, that the reduced heterozygosity is in line with models of pervasive migration and admixture. With very different conclusions about the nature of human evolution the last 100,000 years. 1
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