Work

Population Genomics and the Statistical Values of Race: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Biological Classification of Human Populations and Implications for Clinical Genetic Epidemiological Research

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: The biological status and biomedical significance of the concept of race as applied to humans continue to be contentious issues despite the use of advanced statistical and clustering methods to determine continental ancestry. It is thus imperative for researchers to understand the limitations as well as potential uses of the concept of race in biology and biomedicine. This paper deals with the theoretical assumptions behind cluster analysis in human population genomics. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, it demonstrates that the hypothesis that attributes the clustering of human populations to "frictional" effects of landform barriers at continental boundaries is empirically incoherent. It then contrasts the scientific status of the "cluster" and "cline" constructs in human population genomics, and shows how cluster may be instrumentally produced. It also shows how statistical values of race vindicate Darwin's argument that race is evolutionarily meaningless. Finally, the paper explains why, due to spatiotemporal parameters, evolutionary forces, and socio-cultural factors influencing population structure, continental ancestry may be pragmatically relevant to global and public health genomics. Overall, this work demonstrates that, from a biological systematic and evolutionary taxonomical perspective, human races/continental groups or clusters have no natural meaning or objective biological reality. In fact, the utility of racial categorizations in research and in clinics can be explained by spatiotemporal parameters, socio-cultural factors, and evolutionary forces affecting disease causation and treatment response.

Source: Frontiers in Genetics

DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2016.00022

Authors: Koffi N. Maglo, Tesfaye B. Mersha, Lisa J. Martin

Institutions: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Race, Genetics, and Society

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801

Funders: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities