Biology subjects

Carrion, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Carrion, P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Ancient whole genomes reveal regional selection during adaptation to Neolithic lifestyle in Western Eurasia

The introduction of agriculture in Western Eurasia during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition reshaped human lifestyle, demography and pathogen exposure. Yet, the associated selective pressures remain incompletely resolved because previous ancient DNA studies relied on targeted SNP panels and yielded non-overlapping results. Here, using high-coverage whole-genome data from 152 ancient individuals, including 12 newly sequenced genomes from the Iron Gates, we show that adaptation during this transition was geographically structured and involved selection of both Early Farmer and Hunter-Gatherer alleles. By combining scans of population differentiation, extended haplotype homozygosity, and adaptive admixture, we identify candidate loci under selection in ancestral and admixed populations. Extending the analysis beyond SNPs, we also detect differential copy-number variants, ancestry-associated shifts in transposable-element abundance, and an early Neolithic hepatitis B infection. Functional analyses including effects on gene expression suggested selection on immune, metabolic, reproductive, sensory, and behavioural processes. Taken together, our results reveal a broader and more regionally variable adaptive landscape than previously appreciated.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Disparate demographic impacts of the Roman Colonization and the Migration Period in the Iberian Peninsula.

It has been unclear how the periods of Roman and later Germanic political control shaped the demography of the Iberian Peninsula and how Iberia differs in these respects from other parts of the Roman Empire. We report genome-wide data from 248 ancient individuals from the largely unsampled period 100-800 CE and co-analyze them with previously reported data. In the Roman era, we document profound demographic transformation, with an influx of people with ancestry from the Central and Eastern Mediterranean in all the areas under study and of North Africans, especially in central and southern Iberia. Germanic (Buri, Suebi, Vandals & Visigoths) and Sarmatian (Alans) took over political control beginning in the 5th century, and although we identify individuals with Germanic-associated ancestry at sites with Germanic-style ornaments and observe that such individuals were closely related across large distances as in the case of two siblings separated by 700 km, for Iberia as a whole, we observe high continuity with the previous Hispano-Roman population. The demographic patterns in Iberia contrast sharply with those in Britain, which showed the opposite pattern of little change in the Roman period followed by great change in the Migration period, and also from demographic patterns in the central Mediterranean where both periods were associated with profound transformation, raising broader questions about the forces that precipitated change over this time.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2021

Cosmopolitanism at the Roman Danubian Frontier, Slavic Migrations, and the Genomic Formation of Modern Balkan Peoples

The Roman Empire expanded through the Mediterranean shores and brought human mobility and cosmopolitanism across this inland sea to an unprecedented scale. However, if this was also common at the Empire frontiers remains undetermined. The Balkans and Danube River were of strategic importance for the Romans acting as an East-West connection and as a defense line against "barbarian" tribes. We generated genome-wide data from 70 ancient individuals from present-day Serbia dated to the first millennium CE; including Viminacium, capital of Moesia Superior province. Our analyses reveal large scale-movements from Anatolia during Imperial rule, similar to the pattern observed in Rome, and cases of individual mobility from as far as East Africa. Between [~]250-500 CE, we detect gene-flow from Central/Northern Europe harboring admixtures of Iron Age steppe groups. Tenth-century CE individuals harbored North-Eastern European-related ancestry likely associated to Slavic-speakers, which contributed >20% of the ancestry of todays Balkan people.

evolutionary biology↗