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Whole-genome sequencing data offer insights into human demography

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Two new studies take distinct population genetic approaches to analyzing whole-genome sequencing data sets in order to estimate human demographic parameters. These papers refine our understanding of the relationships among human populations while illustrating both the possibilities and the statistical challenges of fitting demographic models to whole-genome data sets.

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Figure 1: Illustration of methods for demographic inference from whole-genome sequence data sets.

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Correspondence to Jonathan K Pritchard.

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Pritchard, J. Whole-genome sequencing data offer insights into human demography. Nat Genet 43, 923–925 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.953

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