Sahel Genetics! ❌

Information and more accurate summaries on the way!

List of Ancient DNA Findings:
Other Findings!
In 2023, whole genomes of Fulani individuals from various Sahelian samples were analyzed, and the researches said the non-Sub-Saharan genetic ancestry within the Fulani cannot be solely explained by recent admixture events. Fulani may be descendants of Saharan cattle herders during the last Green Sahara, who had some genomic similarities to Late Neolithic Moroccans based on ancient samples.
🔗Echoes from the last Green Sahara: whole genome analysis of Fulani, a key population to unveil the genetic evolutionary history of Africa | bioRxiv
🔗The genomic echoes of the last Green Sahara on the Fulani and Sahelian people - ScienceDirect
🔗https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369865165_Echoes_from_the_last_Green_Sahara_whole_genome_analysis_of_Fulani_a_key_population_to_unveil_the_genetic_evolutionary_history_of_Africa

Contemporary DNA Studies:
Y-Chromosome Data
However, Shriner, D., & Rotimi, C. N. (2018), associate the introduction of R1b into Chad, with the more recent movements of Baggara Arabs.
🔗Genetic History of Chad - PMC (nih.gov)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888588/

Mitochondrial Data
🔗Genetic Structure of the Western and Eastern African Sahel/Savannah Belt and the Role of Nomadic Pastoralists as Inferred from the Variation of D-Loop Mitochondrial DNA Sequences on JSTOR
🔗Internal diversification of non-Sub-Saharan haplogroups in Sahelian populations and the spread of pastoralism beyond the Sahara - PubMed (nih.gov)

Autosomal Data
🔗The Fulani have an old "Berber" (?) element | Discover Magazine

Triska, Petr et al. (2015) showed that there is extensive admixture across the Sahel Belt, with the Fula carrying West African and East African components, as well as a Mozabite/North African component. These results support the hypothesis of a North African origin and a Western to Central Africa past migration for Fulani.
🔗Extensive Admixture and Selective Pressure Across the Sahel Belt - PMC (nih.gov)

According to a study published by Haber et al. (2016) that examined Y-DNA haplogroups from samples obtained from 75 Toubou men, haplogroups associated with paternal Eurasian ancestry were present at rates of 34% for R1b, 31% for T1a, and 1% for J1. The North African associated haplogroup E-M78 were present at rates of 28%, while E-M81 appeared at a rate of 5%. The study also found that 20-30% of Toubou autosomal DNA was Eurasian in origin, and their African ancestral component was best represented by Laal-speaking populations. Other ethnic groups in Chad such as the Sara people and Laal speakers had considerably lower Eurasian admixture, at only 0.3%-2% and 1.25%-4.5% respectively. Furthermore, Ethiopians are a mixture of Africans and Eurasians. … Eurasian ancestry in Ethiopians ranges from 11%–12% in the Gumuz to 53%–57% in the Amhara. … Neanderthal ancestry proportion in Africans is correlated with gene flow from Eurasians. For example, knowing that today Eurasians carry ∼2% of Neanderthal ancestry, we observed that East Africans (Ethiopians) had ∼1% Neanderthal ancestry and ∼50% Eurasian ancestry.”
🔗Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations - ScienceDirect
🔗Chad Genetic Diversity Reveals an African History Marked by Multiple Holocene Eurasian Migrations (cell.com) (PDF)

'The Historical Spread of Arabian Pastoralists to the Eastern African Sahel Evidenced by the Lactase Persistence 13,915*G Allele and Mitochondrial DNA' - 2017 (Study)

The historical spread of Arabian Pastoralists to the eastern African Sahel evidenced by the lactase persistence -13,915*G allele and mitochondrial DNA - PubMed (nih.gov)
In 2019, B Lorente-Galdos using whole genome analysis, found that in the two Northeastern Sub-Saharan samples, this Western Eurasian ancestry in their Toubou sample was 31.4%, and it was 14.9% for the East African Bantu. The Toubou also maintained similar genetic distance to other Sub-Saharan samples, but was also genetically close to North African and non-African samples. The Eurasian component in the North African individuals was present at high rates of 84.9% for the Saharawi and 76.0% for the Libyan. North African samples were closer to Eurasian populations than to Sub-Saharan populations, implying that the Sahara Desert might have represented a major barrier within Africa. In contrast, the three Khoisan groups presented significantly small proportions of a Eurasian component (3.83-4.11%).
🔗https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13059-019-1684-5

A full genome analysis was conducted by Vicente et al. (2019), analyzing several different Fulani subgroups from various geographic regions. They found that the Fulani people are characterized by the admixture of local West African and East African components, but also display West-Eurasian admixture, mediated through historical North African groups. The West-Eurasian ancestry among Fulani was estimated to a mean average of 21.4% among the 53 samples from Burkina Faso. According to the authors, there were two admixture events, the first being about 2000 years ago, with the second being more recent at around 300 years ago. This Eurasian ancestry was most similar to the Mozabite people.
🔗Population history and genetic adaptation of the Fulani nomads: inferences from genome-wide data and the lactase persistence trait - PMC (nih.gov)
A study conducted by Fan et al. (2019), found that the Fulani sampled from Cameroon, clustered with Afro-Asiatic speakers from East Africa in the phylogenetic analysis, which the authors said indicates a potential shift in language to Niger-Congo. The analysis on autosomal markers found traces of West Eurasian-related ancestry in this population, which suggests a North African or East African origin (as North and East Africans also have such ancestry likely related to expansions of farmers and herders from the Near East) and is consistent with the presence at moderate frequency of the −13,910T variant associated with lactose tolerance in European populations.
🔗African evolutionary history inferred from whole genome sequence data of 44 indigenous African populations - PMC (nih.gov)
Another study in 2020 by Priehodová et al., suggest an older date for the introduction of one variant of the LP allele in the Sahel, about ~8.5 ka.
🔗Sahelian pastoralism from the perspective of variants associated with lactase persistence - PubMed (nih.gov)

In 2020 a paper with an admixture graph using Fulani, the denogram inferred that they have 48% Mende-related, 23% East African-related, and 29% non-African-related ancestry.
🔗Ancient West African foragers in the context of African population history - PMC (nih.gov)

Tree Diagram Showing the Ancestral Components in Fulani Herders

The Fulani people are genetically an admixture of West and East African ancestries, specifically Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan components, but also display varying degrees of West Eurasian admixture through contact with groups from North Africa.
🔗Demographic history and admixture dynamics in African Sahelian populations | Human Molecular Genetics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)