Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
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Featured researches published by Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim.
PLOS ONE | 2012
Tábita Hünemeier; Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Soledad de Azevedo; Verônica Contini; Victor Acuña-Alonzo; Francisco Rothhammer; Jean-Michel Dugoujon; Stéphane Mazières; Ramiro Barrantes; María Teresa Villarreal-Molina; Vanessa Rodrigues Paixão-Côrtes; Francisco M. Salzano; Samuel Canizales-Quinteros; Andres Ruiz-Linares; Maria Cátira Bortolini
Culture and genetics rely on two distinct but not isolated transmission systems. Cultural processes may change the human selective environment and thereby affect which individuals survive and reproduce. Here, we evaluated whether the modes of subsistence in Native American populations and the frequencies of the ABCA1*Arg230Cys polymorphism were correlated. Further, we examined whether the evolutionary consequences of the agriculturally constructed niche in Mesoamerica could be considered as a gene-culture coevolution model. For this purpose, we genotyped 229 individuals affiliated with 19 Native American populations and added data for 41 other Native American groups (n = 1905) to the analysis. In combination with the SNP cluster of a neutral region, this dataset was then used to unravel the scenario involved in 230Cys evolutionary history. The estimated age of 230Cys is compatible with its origin occurring in the American continent. The correlation of its frequencies with the archeological data on Zea pollen in Mesoamerica/Central America, the neutral coalescent simulations, and the FST-based natural selection analysis suggest that maize domestication was the driving force in the increase in the frequencies of 230Cys in this region. These results may represent the first example of a gene-culture coevolution involving an autochthonous American allele.
PLOS ONE | 2015
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Victor Acuña-Alonzo; Francisco M. Salzano; Maria Cátira Bortolini; Tábita Hünemeier
It has been proposed that the functional ACTN3*R577X polymorphism might have evolved due to selection in Eurasian human populations. To test this possibility we surveyed all available population-based data for this polymorphism and performed a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of its genetic diversity, in order to assess the action of adaptive and random mechanisms on its variation across human geographical distribution. The derived 577X allele increases in frequency with distance from Africa, reaching the highest frequencies on the American continent. Positive selection, detected by an extended haplotype homozygosisty test, was consistent only with the Eurasian data, but simulations with neutral models could not fully explain the results found in the American continent. It is possible that particularities of Native American population structure could be responsible for the observed allele frequencies, which would have resulted from a complex interaction between selective and random factors.
PLOS ONE | 2015
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Josephine T. Daub; Francisco M. Salzano; Matthieu Foll; Laurent Excoffier
Tropical forests are believed to be very harsh environments for human life. It is unclear whether human beings would have ever subsisted in those environments without external resources. It is therefore possible that humans have developed recent biological adaptations in response to specific selective pressures to cope with this challenge. To understand such biological adaptations we analyzed genome-wide SNP data under a Bayesian statistics framework, looking for outlier markers with an overly large extent of differentiation between populations living in a tropical forest, as compared to genetically related populations living outside the forest in Africa and the Americas. The most significant positive selection signals were found in genes related to lipid metabolism, the immune system, body development, and RNA Polymerase III transcription initiation. The results are discussed in the light of putative tropical forest selective pressures, namely food scarcity, high prevalence of pathogens, difficulty to move, and inefficient thermoregulation. Agreement between our results and previous studies on the pygmy phenotype, a putative prototype of forest adaptation, were found, suggesting that a few genetic regions previously described as associated with short stature may be evolving under similar positive selection in Africa and the Americas. In general, convergent evolution was less pervasive than local adaptation in one single continent, suggesting that Africans and Amerindians may have followed different routes to adapt to similar environmental selective pressures.
American Journal of Human Biology | 2011
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Sijia Wang; Andrea Rita Marrero; Francisco M. Salzano; Andres Ruiz-Linares; Maria Cátira Bortolini
Objectives: We report X‐chromosomal linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns in Amerindian (Kogi, Wayuu, and Zenu) and admixed Latin American (Central Valley of Costa Rica and Southern Brazilian Gaucho) populations.
PLOS ONE | 2013
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Rafael Bisso-Machado; Virginia Ramallo; Maria Cátira Bortolini; Sandro L. Bonatto; Francisco M. Salzano; Tábita Hünemeier
The relationship between the evolution of genes and languages has been studied for over three decades. These studies rely on the assumption that languages, as many other cultural traits, evolve in a gene-like manner, accumulating heritable diversity through time and being subjected to evolutionary mechanisms of change. In the present work we used genetic data to evaluate South American linguistic classifications. We compared discordant models of language classifications to the current Native American genome-wide variation using realistic demographic models analyzed under an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) framework. Data on 381 STRs spread along the autosomes were gathered from the literature for populations representing the five main South Amerindian linguistic groups: Andean, Arawakan, Chibchan-Paezan, Macro-Jê, and Tupí. The results indicated a higher posterior probability for the classification proposed by J.H. Greenberg in 1987, although L. Campbells 1997 classification cannot be ruled out. Based on Greenbergs classification, it was possible to date the time of Tupí-Arawakan divergence (2.8 kya), and the time of emergence of the structure between present day major language groups in South America (3.1 kya).
American Journal of Human Biology | 2014
C.C. Gontijo; Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; N.M.O. Godinho; Rafaela C. P. Toledo; Adriana da Silva Nunes; Wellington dos Santos Silva; Maria Manuela da Fonseca Moura; José Carlos Coutinho De Oliveira; Rubiani de Cassia Pagotto; Maria de Nazaré Klautau-Guimarães; Silviene Fabiana de Oliveira
As a consequence of colonization of the Americas and decimation of the native population, an important portion of autochthonous genetic variation has been lost. However, some alleles have been incorporated into the growing populations of admixed mestizos. In this study, we evaluated the potential of African‐derived communities in Brazil to be repositories of Amerindian alleles and, by extension, a source of information on American prehistory.
Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series | 2008
Neide Maria de Oliveira Godinho; C.C. Gontijo; M.E.C.G. Diniz; G. Falcão-Alencar; Gustavo C. Dalton; Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; Rejane da Silva Sena Barcelos; Maria de Nazaré Klautau-Guimarães; Silviene Fabiana de Oliveira
Human Biology | 2011
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; C.C. Gontijo; Gabriel Falcão-Alencar; N.M.O. Godinho; Rafaela C. P. Toledo; Maria Angélica F. Pedrosa; Marcelo R. Luizon; Aguinaldo Luiz Simões; Maria N. Klautau-Guimãres; Silviene Fabiana de Oliveira
Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series | 2009
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; G. Falcão-Alencar; N.M.O. Godinho; M.E.C.G. Diniz; C.C. Gontijo; B.F. Reis; Maria Angélica F. Pedrosa; Silviene Fabiana de Oliveira
Archive | 2012
Carlos Eduardo G. Amorim; C.C. Gontijo; Silviene Fabiana de Oliveira; Michael H. Crawford; Benjamin C. Campbell