Researchers at the Pennsylvania State University in the United States have sequenced the complete genome of four Bushmen , tribal leaders of approximately 80 years of age who live in the Kalahari Desert (Namibia), and of a Bantu from southern Africa, specifically the famous anti- apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize.
The results, which are published this week in the magazineNature, identifymore than 1.3 million previously unknown genetic variants. These DNA variations indicate that South Africans are quite different genetically from Europeans, Asians, and West African people. Furthermore, “on average,there are more genetic differences between any two Bushmen than between a European and an Asian“, as explained by Webb Miller, professor of biology and computational science at Pennsylvania State University (USA), and co-author of the study.
Genetics and health
Miller and his colleagues hope that the research, in addition to helpingunderstand human diversity, allow the inclusion of the inhabitants of southern Africa in futuregenetic, medical and pharmacological studies. “To understand how genes affect our health we need to know the full range of human genetic variations, and South Africa is the place to look,” says Miller.
Thebushmen, whose total population is between 70,000 and 100,000 people, are the indigenous people of southern Africa and have lived from hunting and gathering for thousands of years. Their common origin, dating back 27,000 years, makes them the oldest current human group on the planet. Regarding thebantúesThey are made up of hundreds of ethnic groups from sub-Saharan Africa whose linguistic diversity is as important as that existing within the Indo-European group.
