The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa.

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Fortes-Lima, Cesar A ORCID: 0000-0002-9310-5009, Burgarella, Concetta, Hammarén, Rickard ORCID: 0000-0001-9017-591X, Eriksson, Anders ORCID: 0000-0003-3436-3726, Vicente, Mário, Jolly, Cecile, Semo, Armando, Gunnink, Hilde ORCID: 0000-0002-5508-8156, Pacchiarotti, Sara ORCID: 0000-0003-1360-5060, Mundeke, Leon et al (show 20 more authors) , Matonda, Igor, Muluwa, Joseph Koni, Coutros, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-4861-6432, Nyambe, Terry S, Cikomola, Justin Cirhuza ORCID: 0000-0002-0856-5992, Coetzee, Vinet, de Castro, Minique ORCID: 0000-0002-8902-7423, Ebbesen, Peter, Delanghe, Joris ORCID: 0000-0002-5702-6792, Stoneking, Mark, Barham, Lawrence ORCID: 0000-0002-5474-4668, Lombard, Marlize ORCID: 0000-0002-0675-0414, Meyer, Anja ORCID: 0000-0002-5275-9276, Steyn, Maryna, Malmström, Helena ORCID: 0000-0002-6456-8055, Rocha, Jorge ORCID: 0000-0001-5460-7615, Soodyall, Himla, Pakendorf, Brigitte, Bostoen, Koen ORCID: 0000-0003-2284-6165 and Schlebusch, Carina M ORCID: 0000-0002-8160-9621 (2024) The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa. Nature, 625 (7995). pp. 540-547.

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Abstract

The expansion of people speaking Bantu languages is the most dramatic demographic event in Late Holocene Africa and fundamentally reshaped the linguistic, cultural and biological landscape of the continent^1-7. With a comprehensive genomic dataset, including newly generated data of modern-day and ancient DNA from previously unsampled regions in Africa, we contribute insights into this expansion that started 6,000-4,000 years ago in western Africa. We genotyped 1,763 participants, including 1,526 Bantu speakers from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and generated whole-genome sequences from 12 Late Iron Age individuals⁸. We show that genetic diversity amongst Bantu-speaking populations declines with distance from western Africa, with current-day Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as possible crossroads of interaction. Using spatially explicit methods⁹ and correlating genetic, linguistic and geographical data, we provide cross-disciplinary support for a serial-founder migration model. We further show that Bantu speakers received significant gene flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. Our genetic dataset provides an exhaustive modern-day African comparative dataset for ancient DNA studies¹⁰ and will be important to a wide range of disciplines from science and humanities, as well as to the medical sector studying human genetic variation and health in African and African-descendant populations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Humans, Language, Genetics, Population, Emigration and Immigration, Founder Effect, History, Ancient, Linguistics, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Africa, Western, Gene Flow, Genetic Variation, Geographic Mapping, Datasets as Topic, DNA, Ancient
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2024 15:43
Last Modified:	02 Feb 2024 09:34
DOI:	10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3177918