PMC:5985360 / 28530-29457 JSONTXT

{"target":"https://pubannotation.org/docs/sourcedb/PMC/sourceid/5985360","sourcedb":"PMC","sourceid":"5985360","source_url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/5985360","text":"The Bantu expansions started ∼5,000 years ago and took ∼2,000 years to cross from present-day Cameroon to the Great Lakes region.48 The wide credible interval (3,400 to 11,100 years) of the age of the sickle mutation does not rule out the possibility that the mutation coincided with the onset of the Bantu expansions. However, our results support the hypothesis that the origin of the βS allele predated the onset of the Bantu expansions. First, the βS allele could have been at or near its equilibrium frequency when the Bantu expansions occurred ∼5,000 years ago, according to our estimation that the sickle mutation originated ∼7,300 years ago and that balancing selection ensued immediately and reached equilibrium in ∼2,400 years in an environment where malaria preexisted. Second, the likelihood that the βS allele is carried by migrating individuals increases with the frequency of that allele in the source population.","tracks":[]}