Most of the harmful mutations in people arose in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years

December 4, 2012

(Credit: stock image)

The human genome has been busy over the past 5,000 years. Human populations have grown exponentially, and new genetic mutations arise with each generation, says Nature News.





Cumulative proportion of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) for a given allele age. The inset highlights the cumulative proportion of SNVs that are estimated to have arisen in the last 50,000 years. The x axis denotes allele age (x 1,000) and the y axis indicates the the cumulative proportion of SNVs (%). EA: European Americans; AA: African Americans. (Credit: Wenqing Fu et al./Nature)