Tracking evolutionary changes in pre- and post-contact America using time-series genomic data

• Grant number: 21/06860-8
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants - Phase 2
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Human and Medical Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Tábita Hünemeier
• Grantee: Tábita Hünemeier
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: André Menezes Strauss ; Carlos Eduardo Guerra Amorim ; David Comas ; Maria Laura Parolin ; Matteo Fumagalli
• Associated research grant: 15/26875-9 - Native American genome diversity, AP.JP
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/10781-4 - Evolutionary History of Ancient Domestic Dogs from the Atlantic Patagonia, BP.MS

Abstract

The history of the European conquest of the American Continent can be understood as the spread of pathogens that led to the collapse of most indigenous peoples. The deadliest infectious diseases spread from the Old to the New World, including Smallpox, Measles, Whooping Cough, Chickenpox, Bubonic Plague, Typhus and Malaria. Although post-contact epidemics are well studied, pre-contact disease data are limited in the historical record. However, it is known that Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and American trypanosomiasis (or Chagas Disease; Trypanosoma cruzi) emerged long before the arrival of Europeans. Still, there is limited information on the impact of colonization on the genetic diversity of native populations and on how population collapse has altered pathogen-host relationships over the past few centuries. This project aims to study the complete genomes of 28 individuals who lived between 1000 and 100 years before the present in two regions of the South America lowlands: the Brazilian Coast and Atlantic Patagonia. The sequencing of the complete time-series genomes of individuals from the same region is unprecedented and essential to understanding the impact of epidemics brought by Europeans on Native American diversity over time and the consequences of it in response to current diseases. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

HUNEMEIER, TABITA. The spread of genes and culture in the Late Holocene of South America. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, v. 180, p. 1-pg., 2023-04-01. (15/26875-9, 21/06860-8)

HUNEMEIER, TABITA. Biogeographic Perspectives on Human Genetic Diversification. Molecular Biology and Evolution, v. 41, n. 3, p. 8-pg., 2024-03-06. (21/06860-8)

HUNEMEIER, TABITA; NUNES, KELLY; FERRAZ, TIAGO; LEMES, RENAN B.; VILLAGRAN, XIMENA S.; POSTH, COSIMO; STRAUSS, ANDRE. Genomic adaptation in ancient Brazilian shell mound builders. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, v. 183, p. 1-pg., 2024-04-01. (21/06860-8)