About this Research Topic
The last decade has seen a deluge of genomic data from modern and ancient human populations, including long-extinct archaic hominin lineages. Analyses of these genomes have revealed a series of new insights into human evolutionary history, including the migrations that saw humans spread out of Africa and across most of the planet around 50 to 60 thousand years ago and genetic signals of adaptation to historical selection pressures – which often involved introgressed variants obtained from admixture with archaic hominins. These evolutionary processes have shaped human genomic diversity now observed worldwide and are ultimately responsible for population differences in the prevalence and aetiology of many diseases.
While evolutionary information has remained largely peripheral to medical research endeavours to date, all human diseases have an evolutionary history that can potentially inform diagnosis, prognosis, choosing appropriate clinical treatments, the creation of new medicines, and the development of precision medicine. The application of evolutionary theory to human disease research is known as evolutionary medicine. In this research topic, we focus on recent advances in evolutionary medicine that have been enabled by the analysis of population genomic datasets. We seek studies that provide new insights on human health and disease by extracting evolutionary information encoded in the genomes of modern or ancient populations.
In light of the strong focus on populations with predominantly European ancestry in published medical genomic studies, we strongly encourage submission of research involving populations that are currently underrepresented in genomic research. We also welcome studies that explore ethical considerations related to evolutionary and medical genomic research, such as issues surrounding data ownership, governance, and community engagement in indigenous and underrepresented populations.
We welcome submission of Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews, New Methods, and Perspectives including, but not limited to:
Evolutionary history of genomic loci associated with Mendelian and polygenic diseases/traits.
Evolutionary trade-offs leading to disease.
Mismatches between genotypes adapted to historical environments and modern living conditions.
Genetic conflict and its implications for disease.
Evolutionary genomic studies of gestational and fertility disorders.
Functional annotation of adaptive loci.
The impact of introgressed hominin variants on disease susceptibility and resistance, and drug metabolism.
Genomics analyses of pathogen-host coevolution.
Evolution-informed drug repurposing.
Ethical considerations.
Use Cases.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
While evolutionary information has remained largely peripheral to medical research endeavours to date, all human diseases have an evolutionary history that can potentially inform diagnosis, prognosis, choosing appropriate clinical treatments, the creation of new medicines, and the development of precision medicine. The application of evolutionary theory to human disease research is known as evolutionary medicine. In this research topic, we focus on recent advances in evolutionary medicine that have been enabled by the analysis of population genomic datasets. We seek studies that provide new insights on human health and disease by extracting evolutionary information encoded in the genomes of modern or ancient populations.
In light of the strong focus on populations with predominantly European ancestry in published medical genomic studies, we strongly encourage submission of research involving populations that are currently underrepresented in genomic research. We also welcome studies that explore ethical considerations related to evolutionary and medical genomic research, such as issues surrounding data ownership, governance, and community engagement in indigenous and underrepresented populations.
We welcome submission of Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews, New Methods, and Perspectives including, but not limited to:
Evolutionary history of genomic loci associated with Mendelian and polygenic diseases/traits.
Evolutionary trade-offs leading to disease.
Mismatches between genotypes adapted to historical environments and modern living conditions.
Genetic conflict and its implications for disease.
Evolutionary genomic studies of gestational and fertility disorders.
Functional annotation of adaptive loci.
The impact of introgressed hominin variants on disease susceptibility and resistance, and drug metabolism.
Genomics analyses of pathogen-host coevolution.
Evolution-informed drug repurposing.
Ethical considerations.
Use Cases.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Keywords: Genetics, genomics, medicine, ethics, immunology, precision medicine, virology, genomic medicine, decision making, coevolution, convergent evolution
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
