From PalaeoProteomics to Population Genetics

ongoing

The study of ancient biomolecules is a captivating field that allows us to delve directly into the past and unravel the demographic history of human populations and their evolution. Through the study of ancient biomolecules such as proteins and DNA, researchers have unearthed new hominin species and the geographical distribution of humans and their relatives in the distant past. However, the recovery of ancient DNA is often limited by environmental factors that lead to its degradation. In contrast, skeletal proteins have been shown to endure for longer periods than DNA and in a wider range of environmental conditions. This has led to recent breakthroughs in the analysis of ancient proteomes(palaeoproteomics) through protein mass spectrometry methods, enabling us to address phylogenetic questions in human evolution based on ancient protein evidence. Such studies have been largely restricted to phylogenetic hypothesis testing so far. In contrast, ProPGen aims to evaluate the feasibility of population genetic analyses based on palaeoproteomic data. I will use existing human and archaic hominin genome data to create a reference panel of proteome sequence variation among globally distributed human populations and interrogate this dataset to explore whether population genetic analysis with proteomics information reveals known patterns of population genetic relationships. Next, I will leverage this dataset in the context of recent (Mediaeval humans from the Netherlands) and Pleistocene European human proteomes, testing existing hypotheses on the population genetic relationships of the studied individuals. The anticipated outcome is a reference panel of proteomic information from bone and teeth, and the assessment of population genetic analyses using proteomic data. This will enable the assignment of a putative population ancestry to each ancient individual analyzed through their proteome, providing unprecedented insights into their population and demographic history.