The aim of this lecture is, firstly, to provide a historical perspective on the birth of population genetics, the reconciliation of Darwinism and Mendelism and the arrival of the interdisciplinary consensus known as synthetic theory of evolution . We will introduce the discipline by presenting the various processes - mutation, recombination, genetic drift, migration, natural selection and socio-cultural forces - that underlie the genetic variability of human populations. By studying the relative importance of these different forces, which can vary between individuals and populations, we can better understand the history of our species and the distribution of genetic and phenotypic variability in human populations. An important part of the lecture will present, in a simplified way, the laws, models and concepts used in population genetics, most of which involve mathematical and statistical tools.
The lecture will also provide an overview of genetic and phenotypic diversity in humans. The publication of the human genome sequence in the early 2000s provided the first basis for genomic studies, but gave very little information on the extent of natural genetic variation occurring between the genomes of different individuals or populations. More recently, the advent of new genomic technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, has enabled genome-wide comparative studies between populations of different geographic and ethnic origins, and thus a better understanding of natural human genome variation at the population level. An important part of the lecture will be devoted to describing the genomic data provided by the major international consortia, which have led to a better understanding of the demographic and adaptive history of our species.
