Researchers use the cavity system of the inner ear to examine the dispersal of modern humans from Africa. Skeletal features, such as cranial and pelvic morphologies, can lend insight into human dispersal from Africa. However, local adaptations, phenotypic plasticity, and postmortem damage to skeletal remains can obscure skeletal-derived patterns of human dispersal from Africa. Christoph Zollikofer and colleagues evaluated the potential of the cavity system of the inner ear, which is fully formed at birth and typically well-preserved, to serve as an information source on the global dispersal of modern humans from Africa. The authors compared worldwide variation in the inner ear's cavity system, also known as the bony labyrinth, with genetic markers, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms, that have been previously reported to reflect human dispersal patterns from Africa. Computed tomography was used to obtain high-resolution 3D data of bony labyrinths from 221 skeletal specimens representative of 19 historical and three prehistoric populations worldwide. Using statistical modeling, the authors found that labyrinth morphology was correlated with dispersal distance from Africa, indicating that labyrinth morphology corresponds with dispersal patterns based on genetic markers. According to the authors, the findings might open avenues for individual-based genotype and phenotype comparisons in past and present human populations.
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Article #17-17873: "Human bony labyrinth is an indicator of population history and dispersal from Africa," by Marcia Ponce de León et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Christoph P. E. Zollikofer, University of Zurich, SWITZERLAND; tel: +41-44-635-5427; e-mail: < zolli@aim.uzh.ch >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences