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The study of human genetic variation has evolutionary significance and medical applications. It can help scientists reconstruct and understand patterns of past human migration. In medicine, study of human genetic variation may be important because some disease-causing alleles occur more often in certain population groups.
Genetic studies of traits and populations have been used to justify social inequalities associated with race, [7] despite the fact that patterns of human variation have been shown to be mostly clinal, [8] with human genetic code being approximately 99.6% – 99.9% identical between individuals and without clear boundaries between groups.
Some geneticists have determined that "human genetic variation is geographically structured" and that different geographic regions correlate with different races. [57] Meanwhile, others have claimed that the human genome is characterized by clinal changes across the globe, in relation with the "Out of Africa" theory and how migration to new ...
Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. [1] The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of various kinds, including those characterized by close kinship relations. [2]
Human variability, or human variation, is the range of possible values for any characteristic, physical or mental, of human beings. Frequently debated areas of variability include cognitive ability , personality , physical appearance ( body shape , skin color , etc.) and immunology .
Human evolutionary genetics studies how one human genome differs from another human genome, the evolutionary past that gave rise to the human genome, and its current effects. Differences between genomes have anthropological, medical, historical and forensic implications and applications. Genetic data can provide important insights into human ...
A wide range of methods have been developed to assess the structure of human populations with the use of genetic data. Early studies of within and between-group genetic variation used physical phenotypes and blood groups, with modern genetic studies using genetic markers such as Alu sequences, short tandem repeat polymorphisms, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), among others. [11]
Genetic variability is either the presence of, or the generation of, genetic differences. It is defined as "the formation of individuals differing in genotype , or the presence of genotypically different individuals, in contrast to environmentally induced differences which, as a rule, cause only temporary, nonheritable changes of the phenotype ."