Title
Assortative Mating at Loci Under Recent Natural Selection in Humans.
Abstract
Genetic correlation between mates at specific loci can greatly alter the evolutionary trajectory of a species. Genetic assortative mating has been documented in humans, but its existence beyond population stratification (shared ancestry) has been a matter of controversy. Here, we develop a method to measure assortative mating across the genome at 1,044,854 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), controlling for population stratification and cohort-specific cryptic relatedness. Using data on 1683 human couples from two data sources, we find evidence for both assortative and disassortative mating at specific, discernible loci throughout the entire genome. Then, using the composite of multiple signals (CMS) score, we also show that the group of SNPs exhibiting the most assortativity has been under stronger recent positive selection. Simulations using realistic inputs confirm that assortative mating might indeed affect changes in allele frequency over time. These results suggest that genetic assortative mating may be speeding up evolution in humans.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.biosystems.2019.104040
Biosystems
Keywords
Field
DocType
Mate choice,Assortative mating,Positive selection,Humans
Genetic correlation,Assortativity,Biology,Allele frequency,Natural selection,Single-nucleotide polymorphism,Assortative mating,Population stratification,Locus (genetics),Genetics
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
187
0303-2647
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Akihiro Nishi100.34
Marcus Alexander200.34
James H Fowler300.34
Nicholas A Christakis450836.92