Admixture Mapping

Abstract

Admixture occurs when two or more populations merge to form a new population. A classical example in humans is the African-American population. The African population and the European Caucasian population have diverged during thousands of years of largely separate evolution. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, substantial numbers of Africans were brought to the region that became the United States of America, where most lived as slaves of the Caucasian population. Although interracial marriages were rare, substantial genetic blending between those two populations did occur (in addition to some blending with the Native American population). It is estimated that about 20% of the genetic material in today’s African-American population originated from a non-African, predominantly a Caucasian, source.