Human Genomic Population Structure and Phenotype-genotype Variation in ADME Genes in Four Populations

Physicians know that their patients can react differently to the same medical treatment: for some of them, the drug will prove inefficient, whereas for others it might provoke side-effects, sometimes rather serious. Such differences in response to drug intake are due to several factors, of which molecular variations in specific genes, named " ADME " (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion). This project aims at investigating the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the diversity of ADME genes in human populations. Because of their role at the interface between the organism and its chemical environment, ADME genes are likely targets of recent selective pressures linked to changes in the environments in which humans evolved, such as changes in dietary habits for instance.

The aim of this project is to study the diversity of ADME genes and of their expression in five populations located along a latitudinal axis that extends from East Africa to Central Europe, passing through the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean area, so as to take into account environmental factors that might have influenced the evolution of this diversity. This project is thus intended to evidence the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped genomic regions that are functionally important from the clinical and epidemiological point of view. Moreover, it will allow us to extend the knowledge of human molecular diversity and its evolution to a key-region of the peopling history of our species.