The Genetic History of the Americas

Generally perceived as the carriers of the biological properties of species, genomes also harbor the demographic history of populations. By studying patterns of genetic variation of modern populations, it is possible to dissect the demographic events that occurred in their journey through time. In addition, recent advances in the field of ancient DNA have considerably broadened our knowledge of past events in the history of humans. Yet, a majority of these studies have focused on populations of European descent, leaving important gaps in our understanding of the genetic history of populations with different ancestry. In this regard, my research aims at combining both sources of genetic information, ancient and modern, in order to refine our understanding of the genetic history of understudied populations in Latin America, with an emphasis on Mexico. In this talk I will present a review of the current state of knowledge on the genetic history of the Americas as revealed by ancient and modern DNA studies.