BaTwa populations from Zambia retain ancestry of past hunter-gatherer groups.

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Breton G, Barham L, Mudenda G, Soodyall H, Schlebusch CM, Jakobsson M

Nat Commun 15 (1) 7307 [2024-08-24; online 2024-08-24]

Sub-equatorial Africa is today inhabited predominantly by Bantu-speaking groups of Western African descent who brought agriculture to the Luangwa valley in eastern Zambia ~2000 years ago. Before their arrival the area was inhabited by hunter-gatherers, who in many cases were subsequently replaced, displaced or assimilated. In Zambia, we know little about the genetic affinities of these hunter-gatherers. We examine ancestry of two isolated communities in Zambia, known as BaTwa and possible descendants of recent hunter-gatherers. We genotype over two million genome-wide SNPs from two BaTwa populations (total of 80 individuals) and from three comparative farming populations to: (i) determine if the BaTwa carry genetic links to past hunter-gatherer-groups, and (ii) characterise the genetic affinities of past Zambian hunter-gatherer-groups. The BaTwa populations do harbour a hunter-gatherer-like genetic ancestry and Western African ancestry. The hunter-gatherer component is a unique local signature, intermediate between current-day Khoe-San ancestry from southern Africa and central African rainforest hunter-gatherer ancestry.

NGI SNP genotyping [Service]

NGI Uppsala (SNP&SEQ Technology Platform) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 39181874

DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-50733-y

Crossref 10.1038/s41467-024-50733-y

pmc: PMC11344834
pii: 10.1038/s41467-024-50733-y