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The Human Genome Diversity Project: past, present and future

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 6, pages 333–340 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The Human Genome Project, in accomplishing its goal of sequencing one human genome, heralded a new era of research, a component of which is the systematic study of human genetic variation. Despite delays, the Human Genome Diversity Project has started to make progress in understanding the patterns of this variation and its causes, and also promises to provide important information for biomedical studies.

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Figure 1: Populations that are included in the Human Genome Diversity Project collection.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been made possible by donors of blood samples and cell lines to the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) and the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphism (CEPH). The collaboration with CEPH has been a decisive contribution. Support for preparing the first African cell lines in the Stanford laboratory in 1984–1985 came initially from the Lucille P. Markey Trust, with later additions from a National Institutes of Health Institute for General Medical Science programme and the HGDP–CEPH initiative from the Ellison Medical Foundation. H. Cann, M. Feldman, H. Greely and M.-C. King are thanked for suggesting improvements to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Department, Stanford Medical School, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza

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  1. L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza
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FURTHER INFORMATION

Fondation Jean Dausset — CEPH

International HapMap Project

Human Genome Diversity Project

Human Genome Organisation

Human Genome Project

Marcus Feldman's laboratory

National Research Council

Noah Rosenberg's web site

Stanford Human Population Genetics Laboratory

Glossary

ADMIXTURE

The mixture of two or more genetically distinct populations.

ASSOCIATION STUDIES

A method for localizing genes that are responsible for specific diseases by comparing the DNA of a selected set of patients who are believed to carry the same mutation/s because of their ancestral origin, with that of unrelated healthy controls from the same population.

BRACHYCEPHALIZATION

An increase in the breadth to length ratio of the skull.

DEMIC EXPANSIONS

Processes of substantial demographical growth causing geographical expansions of a population. These are made possible by innovations that affect production of food, such as agro-pastoral economies and/or other improved technologies (for example, transportation, hunting and other weapons).

HAPLOTYPE

A set of genetic markers that show complete or nearly complete linkage disequilibrium; that is, they are inherited through generations without being changed by crossing-over or other recombination mechanisms.

HARDY–WEINBERG EQUILIBRIUM

A classical mathematical principle in population genetics used for testing random mating. It gives the expected frequencies of genotypes for a gene after one generation of random mating if the parental allele frequencies are known.

LINKAGE DISEQUILIBRIUM

The tendency for markers that are physically close to each other on the same chromosome to be transmitted to the progeny together, as there is a low probability that they will be split through recombination.

LINKAGE MAPPING

Mapping genes by typing genetic markers in families to identify regions that are associated with disease or trait values that occur within pedigrees more often than is expected by chance. Such linked regions are more likely to contain a causal genetic variant.

LYMPHOBLASTOID CELL LINES

Lymphoblastoid cell lines are obtained from B lymphocytes, a fraction of white cells from blood that can be grown indefinitely in the laboratory after special treatment of the cells with Epstein–Barr virus.

MICROSATELLITES

Microsatellites are tandem repeats of short nucleotide sequences (2–6 bases). They have a large number of alleles compared with SNPs, owing to a much higher mutation rate.

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Cavalli-Sforza, L. The Human Genome Diversity Project: past, present and future. Nat Rev Genet 6, 333–340 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1596

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