The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people

Eugenia D'Atanasio¹, Flavia Risi², Francesco Ravasini², Francesco Montinaro³, Mogge Hajiesmaeil², Biancamaria Bonucci⁴, Letizia Pistacchia⁵, Daniel Amoako-Sakyi⁶, Maria Bonito², Sara Onidi², Giulia Colombo⁷, Ornella Semino⁷, Giovanni Destro Bisol⁸, Paolo Anagnostou⁹, Mait Metspalu⁴, Kristiina Tambets⁴, Beniamino Trombetta², Fulvio Cruciani¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: eugenia.datanasio@cnr.it.
² Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
³ Department of Biology, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy; Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
⁵ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁶ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁷ Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁸ Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁹ Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fulvio.cruciani@uniroma1.it.

PMID:37995693
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.075

Free article

The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people

Eugenia D'Atanasio et al. Curr Biol.2023.

Free article

.2023 Dec 18;33(24):5495-5504.e4.

doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.075. Epub 2023 Nov 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: eugenia.datanasio@cnr.it.
² Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
³ Department of Biology, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy; Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
⁵ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁶ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁷ Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁸ Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Antropologia, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁹ Department of Enviromental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fulvio.cruciani@uniroma1.it.

PMID:37995693
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.075

Abstract

The population history of the Sahara/Sahelian belt is understudied, despite previous work highlighting complex dynamics.¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷ The Sahelian Fulani, i.e., the largest nomadic pastoral population in the world,⁸ represent an interesting case because they show a non-negligible proportion of an Eurasian genetic component, usually explained by recent admixture with northern Africans.¹^,²^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹² Nevertheless, their origins are largely unknown, although several hypotheses have been proposed, including a possible link to ancient peoples settled in the Sahara during its last humid phase (Green Sahara, 12,000-5,000 years before present [BP]).¹³^,¹⁴^,¹⁵ To shed light about the Fulani ancient genetic roots, we produced 23 high-coverage (30×) whole genomes from Fulani individuals from 8 Sahelian countries, plus 17 samples from other African groups and 3 from Europeans as controls, for a total of 43 new whole genomes. These data have been compared with 814 published modern whole genomes²^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸ and with relevant published ancient sequences (> 1,800 samples).¹⁹ These analyses showed some evidence that the non-sub-Saharan genetic ancestry component of the Fulani might have also been shaped by older events,¹^,⁵^,⁶ possibly tracing the Fulani origins to unsampled ancient Green Saharan population(s). The joint analysis of modern and ancient samples allowed us to shed light on the genetic ancestry composition of such ancient Saharans, suggesting a similarity with Late Neolithic Moroccans and possibly pointing to a link with the spread of cattle herding. We also identified two different Fulani clusters whose admixture pattern may be informative about the historical Fulani movements and their later involvement in the western African empires.

Keywords: Africa; Fulani; Fulbe; Green Sahara; Sahel; evolutionary genetics; population genomics; whole genomes.

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Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

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The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people

Affiliations

The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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MeSH terms

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources