Biology subjects

Marom, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Marom, N..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Drivers of immune-related genetic variation across human populations

Pathogen-mediated disease burden imposes some of the strongest selective pressures on human populations, shaping genetic variation in immune-related genomic regions. Because historical, cultural, ecological, and environmental factors can influence disease burden, associations between these factors and immune-related genomic signatures can provide insight into how pathogen-mediated selection varied among populations. To investigate these associations and identify factors potentially contributing to historical disease burden, we analyzed worldwide variation in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). We evaluated the relationships between global patterns of genetic variation and a comprehensive set of historical-cultural, ecological, and climatic variables compiled in DisECCO (Disease, Ecological, Cultural, and Climatic Origins dataset). This dataset includes factors potentially associated with historical disease burden, including the timing of major cultural transitions, historical climatic conditions, exposure to domesticated animals, and pre-industrial pathogen stress. Contrary to genome-wide expectations, MHC diversity and variation were not well explained by geographic distance from Africa, suggesting that neutral demographic processes play a limited role in shaping MHC variation. Instead, MHC genetic variation was significantly associated with climatic variables, domestication exposure, and the time lag between the onset of the Neolithic and urbanization, with the strongest explanatory models identified for MHC Class II. These results indicate that cultural transitions and environmental conditions have played a central role in shaping immune-related genetic variation, and may have contributed substantially to changes in disease burden. Overall, our findings show that integrating ecological and cultural-historical variables with genomic data can help explain global patterns of genetic variation in humans.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

A POSSIBLE CONNECTION BETWEEN VERTICAL TRANSHUMANCE AND TEMPORARY PLAGUE RESERVOIRS DURING THE SECOND PLAGUE EPIDEMIC

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWThe Second Plague Pandemic (SPP) ravaged large parts of Eurasia and North Africa between the 14th and 19th centuries. Today, plague is still active in parts of Asia, Africa, and America. One of the hotly debated topics in plague studies is the geographic origins of the recurrent plague waves in Europe after the Black Death (1338-1353): Were they being repeatedly introduced from outside, or did they originate in domestic reservoirs? Here, we build upon recent work arguing for the existence of domestic reservoirs, by exploring a possibility that vertical transhumance by pastoralists could have been a conduit between temporary plague reservoirs and human population centers in Europe. We argue that aspects of pastoral movement and practice, including the utilization of marginal areas and of caves, account for some aspects of plague outbreaks both in the present and in the past. We support this hypothesis using historical sources from the Second Plague Pandemic in Central Europe, and suggest an association between recent and historical land use for pasture and plague outbreaks data.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Genomic signatures of increasing disease burden in recent prehistory

One of the strongest selection pressures experienced by human populations is that driven by diseases on immune-related genomic regions. While it has been hypothesized for some time that disease burdens increased with the shift to agricultural and urbanized lifestyles, direct evidence for this hypothesis is lacking. Here, we capitalize on the accumulation of ancient genomic data to study changes in disease burden in human populations over the past 12,000 years. We investigated changes in genetic diversity and balancing selection in two distinct geographical and cultural centers in Southwest Eurasia and Eastern Asia, and found that not only is the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) the genomic region with the most substantial increases in diversity in terms of enrichment of genes and rates of increase, but that the rates of changes for individual genes are highly correlated between the two cultural centers, indicating similar selection pressures. We identify periods of time with substantial peaks in MHC diversity increase that primarily correspond to periods with settlement intensification, increased connectivity, and the expansion of animal domestication, which suggest that the most intensive disease burden occurred following the transition to sedentary lifestyle but prior to urbanization. These findings demonstrate the potential of our approach in uncovering the interplay between cultural shifts and selection, and provide strong support to the hypothesis that the levels of disease burden have substantially increased in recent prehistory following changes in lifestyle, connectivity and the introduction of domesticated animals.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

A note on predator prey dynamics in radiocarbon datasets

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWPredator-prey interactions have been a central theme in population ecology for the past century, but real-world data sets only exist for recent, relatively short (<100 years) time spans. This limits our ability to study centennial/millennial-scale predator-prey dynamics. We propose that regional radiocarbon databases can be used to reconstruct a signal of predator-prey population dynamics in deep time, overcoming this limitation. We support our argument with examples from Pleistocene Beringia and the Holocene Judean Desert.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Shape analysis of Iron Age sheep astragali suggests west-to-east morphotype diffusion in the southern Levant

The movement of livestock across the Mediterranean is well-documented in the Neolithic era, but its significance during subsequent periods has received less attention. This study explores potential evidence for maritime connections between sheep populations in the Iron Age eastern Mediterranean by analyzing astragal bones from four coastal and inland sites in Israel and Cyprus. Employing an established geometric morphometric protocol, we investigated the hypothesis that intra-site morphological variability is higher in coastal sites, reflecting greater genetic diversity in the livestock populations. While our findings support this hypothesis, the conclusions are constrained by contextual and sample size limitations.

paleontology↗

bioRxiv2022

Faunal remains from the Upper Paleolithic site of Nahal Rahaf 2 in the southern Judean Desert, Israel

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWNahal Rahaf 2 (NR2) is an Early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 35 kya) rock shelter in the southern Judean Desert in Israel. Two excavation seasons in 2019 and 2020 revealed a stratigraphical sequence composed of intact archaeological surfaces attributed to the Arkov-Divshon cultural entity of the arid southern Levant. We present the faunal assemblages from the site, which are rare among the desert sites due to preservation problems. Our results suggest that the residents of the site exploited prime adult caprines (Capra cf. Capra ibex), but were also engaged in hunting of gazelles (Gazella cf. Gazella gazella), whose carcasses were selectively transported to the site and processed for within-bone nutrients. Long-range hunting trips are suggested by the body-part selection in relatively small bovids, and by the presence of species representing wetter habitat patches 20-30 km north of the site. The bi-focal emphasis on generalized gazelle and age-specific caprine hunting, is unique among Late Pleistocene sites from the Levant. The proportion of caprines increases through the stratigraphic sequence, suggesting more specialized economy through time and in inverse relations to site use intensity.

paleontology↗