Admixture as a source for HLA variation in Neolithic European farming communities.

Background: The northern European Neolithic is characterized by two major demographic events: immigration of early farmers from Anatolia at 7500 years before present, and their admixture with local western hunter-gatherers forming late farmers, from around 6200 years before present. The influence of this admixture event on variation in the immune-relevant human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region is understudied.

Results: We analyzed genome-wide data of 125 individuals from seven archeological early farmer and late farmer sites located in present-day Germany.

Neolithic introgression of IL23R-related protection against chronic inflammatory bowel diseases in modern Europeans.

Background: The hypomorphic variant rs11209026-A in the IL23R gene provides significant protection against immune-related diseases in Europeans, notably inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Today, the A-allele occurs with an average frequency of 5% in Europe.

Methods: This study comprised 251 ancient genomes from Europe spanning over 14,000 years.