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Genetic Diversity and Societally Important Disparities.

ABSTRACT: The magnitude of genetic diversity within human populations varies in a way that reflects the sequence of migrations by which people spread throughout the world. Beyond its use in human evolutionary genetics, worldwide variation in genetic diversity sometimes can interact with social processes to produce differences among populations in their relationship to modern societal problems. We review the consequences of genetic diversity differences in the settings of familial identification in forensic genetic testing, match probabilities in bone marrow transplantation, and representation in genome-wide association studies of disease. In each of these three cases, the contribution of genetic diversity to social differences follows from population-genetic principles. For a fourth setting that is not similarly grounded, we reanalyze with expanded genetic data a report that genetic diversity differences influence global patterns of human economic development, finding no support for the claim. The four examples describe a limit to the importance of genetic diversity for explaining societal differences while illustrating a distinction that certain biologically based scenarios do require consideration of genetic diversity for solving problems to which populations have been differentially predisposed by the unique history of human migrations.

SUBMITTER: Rosenberg NA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4566256 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genetic Diversity and Societally Important Disparities.

Rosenberg Noah A NA Kang Jonathan T L JT

Genetics 20150901 1

The magnitude of genetic diversity within human populations varies in a way that reflects the sequence of migrations by which people spread throughout the world. Beyond its use in human evolutionary genetics, worldwide variation in genetic diversity sometimes can interact with social processes to produce differences among populations in their relationship to modern societal problems. We review the consequences of genetic diversity differences in the settings of familial identification in forensi ...[more]

PMID: 26354973

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Project description:BackgroundGenetic variation in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region has been studied among fungi. However, the numbers of ITS sequence polymorphisms in the various Candida species and their associations with sources of invasive fungal infections remain poorly investigated. Here, we characterized the intraspecific and interspecific ITS diversity of Candida spp. strains collected from patients with bloodstream or oroesophageal candidiasis.MethodsWe selected cultures of representative medically important species of Candida as well as some rare and emerging pathogens. Identification was performed by micromorphology and by biochemical testing using an ID32C system, as well as by the sequencing of rDNA ITS. The presence of intraspecific ITS polymorphisms was characterized based on haplotype networks, and interspecific diversity was characterized based on Bayesian phylogenetic analysis.ResultsAmong 300 Candida strains, we identified 76 C. albicans, 14 C. dubliniensis, 40 C. tropicalis, 47 C. glabrata, 34 C. parapsilosis (sensu stricto), 31 C. orthopsilosis, 3 C. metapsilosis, 21 Meyerozyma guilliermondii (C. guilliermondii), 12 Pichia kudriavzevii (C. krusei), 6 Clavispora lusitaniae (C. lusitaniae), 3 C. intermedia, 6 Wickerhamomyces anomalus (C. pelliculosa), and 2 C. haemulonii strains, and 1 C. duobushaemulonii, 1 Kluyveromyces marxianus (C. kefyr), 1 Meyerozyma caribbica (C. fermentati), 1 Pichia norvegensis (C. norvegensis), and 1 Lodderomyces elongisporus strain. Out of a total of seven isolates with inconsistent ID32C profiles, ITS sequencing identified one C. lusitaniae strain, three C. intermedia strains, two C. haemulonii strains and one C. duobushaemulonii strain. Analysis of ITS variability revealed a greater number of haplotypes among C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and C. lusitaniae, which are predominantly related to endogenous sources of acquisition. Bayesian analysis confirmed the major phylogenetic relationships among the isolates and the molecular identification of the different Candida spp.ConclusionsMolecular studies based on ITS sequencing are necessary to identify closely related and emerging species. Polymorphism analysis of the ITS rDNA region demonstrated its utility as a genetic marker for species identification and phylogenetic relationships as well as for drawing inferences concerning the natural history of hematogenous infections caused by medically important and emerging Candida species.

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Genetic Diversity and Societally Important Disparities.

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Genetic Diversity and Societally Important Disparities.

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