Human genetic diversity: Lewontin's fallacy - PubMed (original) (raw)
. 2003 Aug;25(8):798-801.
doi: 10.1002/bies.10315.
Affiliations
- PMID: 12879450
- DOI: 10.1002/bies.10315
Human genetic diversity: Lewontin's fallacy
A W F Edwards. Bioessays. 2003 Aug.
Abstract
In popular articles that play down the genetical differences among human populations, it is often stated that about 85% of the total genetical variation is due to individual differences within populations and only 15% to differences between populations or ethnic groups. It has therefore been proposed that the division of Homo sapiens into these groups is not justified by the genetic data. This conclusion, due to R.C. Lewontin in 1972, is unwarranted because the argument ignores the fact that most of the information that distinguishes populations is hidden in the correlation structure of the data and not simply in the variation of the individual factors. The underlying logic, which was discussed in the early years of the last century, is here discussed using a simple genetical example.
Copyright 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Comment in
- A downward bias in probability of misclassification of human polymorphic loci? (referring to DOI 10.1002/bies.10315).
Fukui Y. Fukui Y. Bioessays. 2013 Aug;35(8):755. doi: 10.1002/bies.201300058. Epub 2013 May 24. Bioessays. 2013. PMID: 23703155 No abstract available.
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