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Can some better help me understand the reason why Fulani's (in particular the Wodaabe) score a frequency of 30-40% NW African, with regard to their atDNA ancestry?
It's my personal opinion that STRUCTURE is simply confusing the Fulani's distinction from other sedentary West African groups as admixture.
A re-post from another forum:
"According to their uniparental ancestry, Fulani's and particular the Wodaabe possess West African lineages are not found among other sedentary West Africans. And when plotted they stream away from the main West African cluster in a vertical formation, much like what they do via their atDNA. This phenomena occurs more often among the nomadic groups, than the sedentary Fulani... due to the latter absorbing gene-flow from near by sedentary groups."
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posted
^What's interesting, concerning Fulani associatins with early Algerian cultures in the Tassili n Ajer region, is that if you look at Razib's STRUCTURE analysis for the African Ancestry Project, the Fulani form a distinct cluster I think around k=6 (don't recall) but after each step up in resolution what's clearly revealed is that outside of the Fulani themselves, Algerians carry the highest proportion of this unique Fulani structure.
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It's always a good idea to cite the name of the study, assuming it is a journal, and what specific regions of the DNA are under analysis, and the geographical origins of the samples.
The bit about nomadic Fulani groups generally accumulating sub-clades of major west African clades that are divergent from those frequent in sedentary populations has some merit, as reflected in mtDNA analysis in at least one study.
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quote:Originally posted by The Explorer: It's always a good idea to cite the name of the study, assuming it is a journal, and what specific regions of the DNA are under analysis, and the geographical origins of the samples.
For example,
Henn and Tishkoff et al. both. In addition to the journals, amateur STRUCTURE runs note the same thing.
Not sure:
"and what specific regions of the DNA are under analysis"
Henn sampled Wodaabe nomads from Central Africa. Tishkoff et al. had a variety of Fulani samples from Nigeria-Cameroon. The amateurs runs are using the same samples from Henn.
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quote:Originally posted by Manu: Bi-directional gene flow between proto-Fulanis and proto-Berbers.
I find it unlikely that this bidirectional gene-flow would bypass more northerly groups like the Mandinka and other Senegambian groups like the Wolof. In addition the Fulani's "West African" component doesn't even resemble other West Africans, while other West Africans are a mix of various sub-groups (West African)... the Fulani only possess one of these at any significant frequency, in addition to the "NW African" cluster.
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Henn and Tishkoff et al. both. In addition to the journals, amateur STRUCTURE runs note the same thing.
I believe we had already covered Tishkoff et al.'s reports in another thread, did we not?
I don't care about amateur structure runs. I go straight to the primary sources.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Manu: Bi-directional gene flow between proto-Fulanis and proto-Berbers.
I find it unlikely that this bidirectional gene-flow would bypass more northerly groups like the Mandinka and other Senegambian groups like the Wolof. In addition the Fulani's "West African" component doesn't even resemble other West Africans, while other West Africans are a mix of various sub-groups (West African)... the Fulani only possess one of these at any significant frequency, in addition to the "NW African" cluster.
I am not so sure if the Wodaabe results are applicable to all Fulanis as they are a heterogeneous bunch. So it is better not to say 'Fulanis' here but instead Wodaabe.
From what I gather, they are mobile and in all probabilities did not originate where they live today (vicinity of lake Chad) because they lack the Central-West African component and only carry the Westerly-West African one. Seeing how they have such a high North African genomic overlap, they most likely originated somewhere between present-day Senegal and Algeria.
The Mandinka/Wolof/Bambara/Mande/Serer/Dogon and other Sub-Saharan Westerly-West Africans do not show this North African overlap, so it seems odd to me if the proto-Wodaabe never had bi-directional gene flow with proto-Berbers. Their atDNA does support this scenario.
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