An exploratory analysis of combined genome-wide SNP data from several recent studies

Abstract

The usefulness of a `total-evidence' approach to human population genetics was assessed through a clustering analysis of combined genome-wide SNP datasets. The combination contained only 3146 SNPs. Detailed examination of the results nonetheless enables the extraction of relevant clues about the history of human populations, some pertaining to events as ancient as the first migration out of Africa. The results are mostly coherent with what is known from history, linguistics, and previous genetic analyses. These promising results suggest that cross-studies data confrontation have the potential to yield interesting new hypotheses about human population history.