Establishing a demographic model for North African populations using genome-wide data

Previous studies conducted on North African human populations have identified a complex demographic scenario in the region due to the location as a crossroad between the Mediterranean Sea, Middle East and the Sahara desert. The presence of an autochthonous genetic component, plus extensive migrations and gene flow from the Middle East, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, have shaped the genetic composition of its people through time. We built a demographic model based on a newly developed algorithm that uses genetic programming to infer the best possible parameters for very complex demographic scenarios such as North Africa. This Genetic Programming for Population Genetic (GP4PG) framework eludes the biases produced by the human determination of the parameters of a model, plus performs better than other Bayesian methods, such as Approximate Bayesian Computation with Deep Learning. Our results support a model where Amazigh and Arab populations in North Africa have different demographic histories with the first splitting before the European, Middle East and North Africa Arab.

Jun 1, 2023 12:00 AM

IV IBE PhD Symposium