Interactions between culture and genetics in human evolution

Moderator : Bernard Swynghedauw (INSERM)

Abstract

It is often said that modern man is "denatured": he is no longer subject to biological evolution, thanks to his culture and technology. With the help of several examples, we will show that this is a preconceived idea. Cultural or technological evolution and biological evolution are interdependent. Because of his ability to transmit cultural traits and modify his environment, man does not escape biological evolution; on the contrary, he changes what we might call the "ecological theater" in which the forces of evolution operate. Examples will be of two kinds: (1) how cultural practices and their transmission modify the distribution of genetic diversity in human populations; we will take as an example various field studies carried out by the team on Central African and Central Asian populations. (2) how changes in lifestyle lead to new forms of selection. We will illustrate this phenomenon with the example of the Neolithic transition. This major change in lifestyle led to the selection of new genetic variants in human populations. In conclusion, the fact that we create and transmit culture is not the end of our biological evolution; on the contrary, we are the product of a constant co-evolution between culture and biology.