In Southern Africa, Human Genetics Tied to Environment

Ancestries of nearly two dozen indigenous groups in the region reveal a close link between the genetic clustering of populations and the Kalahari Desert’s ecogeography.

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

FLICKR, FRANK VASSENInvestigating the genomes of 22 groups of KhoeSan people, hunter-gather and pastoralist tribes indigenous to Southern Africa who speak in “click” languages, researchers found that the variation among the groups depended on geography: groups living along the outer rim of the Kalahari Desert showed little evidence of interbreeding, while KhoeSan groups that lived in the Kalahari basin tended to interbreed more frequently.

The KhoeSan groups are genetically distinct from all other African populations, and are believed to be one of the “first groups to diverge from the ancestors of all humans,” according to a press release. In the new study, Brenna Henn of Stony Brook University in New York and colleagues identified five primary ancestries among the 22 groups. The genetic differences between these five groups correlated with their linguistic histories, and both genetics and language were linked with geography.

The results, published last week (September 1) in Genetics, suggest that ecology and geography may account for more of the genetic differences between groups than language differences or method of subsistence, Henn noted in the release. “There are a lot of threads of information to bring together—linguistics, ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
Share
Image of a woman in a microbiology lab whose hair is caught on fire from a Bunsen burner.
April 1, 2025, Issue 1

Bunsen Burners and Bad Hair Days

Lab safety rules dictate that one must tie back long hair. Rosemarie Hansen learned the hard way when an open flame turned her locks into a lesson.

View this Issue
Conceptual image of biochemical laboratory sample preparation showing glassware and chemical formulas in the foreground and a scientist holding a pipette in the background.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Quality Control Standards

sartorius logo
An illustration of PFAS bubbles in front of a blue sky with clouds.

PFAS: The Forever Chemicals

sartorius logo
Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

dna-script-primarylogo-digital
Concept illustration of acoustic waves and ripples.

Comparing Analytical Solutions for High-Throughput Drug Discovery

sciex

Products

Green Cooling

Thermo Scientific™ Centrifuges with GreenCool Technology

Thermo Fisher Logo
Singleron Avatar

Singleron Biotechnologies and Hamilton Bonaduz AG Announce the Launch of Tensor to Advance Single Cell Sequencing Automation

Zymo Research Logo

Zymo Research Launches Research Grant to Empower Mapping the RNome

Magid Haddouchi, PhD, CCO

Cytosurge Appoints Magid Haddouchi as Chief Commercial Officer