Evolutionary Relationships of Human Populations at the Molecular Level

  • Masatoshi Nei
  • Tatsuya Ota
Chapter

Abstract

All humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens; yet there are many populations, or ethnic groups, that can be distinguished from each other in terms of morphological characters. The broad division into three major ethnic groups, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid, is generally accepted; many anthropologists add two more major ethnic groups, Amerind (American Indians) and Australoid. However, how these ethnic groups evolved remains controversial, and the evolutionary relationships of populations within these groups are yet to be studied.

Keywords

Evolutionary Relationship Dark Skin UPGMA Dendrogram Major Ethnic Group Coalescence Time 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Tokyo 1991

Authors and Affiliations

  • Masatoshi Nei
    • 1
  • Tatsuya Ota
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute of Molecular Evolutionary GeneticsPenn State UniversityUniversity ParkUSA

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