{
  "abstract": "Through a hunting and gathering lifestyle, humans have managed to thrive across all terrestrial ecosystems. A key adaptive feature enabling this ecological success is the ability of hunter-gatherer societies to maintain high levels of genetic diversity despite ecological and demographic shocks, but the mechanisms underlying this resilience are poorly understood. Here, we integrate genomic, demographic, mobility, and ethnographic data from two Central African hunter-gatherer populations to show that genetic diversity emerges from interacting effects of population size, mobility, and cultural norms governing marriage. We first demonstrate direct selection against background homozygosity: Even modest increases in runs of homozygosity, in the near absence of close-kin marriages, are associated with reduced reproductive success. Despite regional differences in effective population size, clustering of relatives, sedentism, and exogamy rules, overall levels of homozygosity are similarly low in both populations. These shared genetic outcomes are achieved through distinct strategies: In one region, strict exogamy combined with high lifetime mobility limits local relatedness, whereas in the other, more relaxed exogamy norms are offset by increased male mate-search distances that reduce offspring homozygosity. Together, our results show that human populations flexibly adjust mobility and social norms to demographic constraints to preserve genetic diversity and avoid fitness costs, revealing culture as a central component of human adaptation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "HUMAN ORIGINS-Cluster of Excellence for Integrative Human Origins Studies (EXC 3101), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.",
    "Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.",
    "Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.",
    "McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.",
    "Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.",
    "Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.",
    "Laboratory of Anthropology, Genetics and Peopling History, Department of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.",
    "iGE3 Genomics Platform, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland."
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1302-5955"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Dieudrice Nganga",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-6311-9400"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Eustache Amboulou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Juliette Ruf"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Pascale Gerbault",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3824-0870"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Mylène Docquier"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Suspense Ifo Averti",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3351-9987"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Lucio Vinicius",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9396-3249"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Andrea Manica",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1895-450X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Andrea Migliano",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4364-2735"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/263f6n5rzbggb.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1126/sciadv.aeh1658",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13715702",
  "id": "263f6n5rzbggb",
  "issns": [
    "2375-2548"
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  "landing_url": "https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aeh1658",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
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  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Anthropology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Genetics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Research Article"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "SciAdv r-articles"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Social and Interdisciplinary Sciences and Public Health"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1311|Forensic and Genetic Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213508762",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13715702?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13715702",
  "pmid": "42950047",
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/263f6n5rzbggb.ris",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "heading:Genetics",
      "subfield": "genetics-genomics"
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  ],
  "title": "Cultural norms of exogamy and mobility shape genetic evolution of Central African hunter-gatherers",
  "title_text": "Cultural norms of exogamy and mobility shape genetic evolution of Central African hunter-gatherers",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:22:55Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/263f6n5rzbggb",
  "venue": "Science Advances",
  "versions": []
}