Anthropological and molecular genetic study on the origin of the extant human beings

現生人類の成り立ちについて,化石人類学の成果を検証し,分子遺伝学の知見と対比して考察を加えた。人類は,生命誌の上で,DNAより成るゲノムの存在として進化して存在してきた。生物界には,それぞれ全盛期と絶滅が繰り返され,その理由として地球上の環境変化や遺伝子それ自体の分子進化とが関係していた。猿人や初期人類の化石はもっぱらアフリカで発見され,アフリカが人類誕生の地である。人類は誕生後主として中東をへてヨーロッパ,アジア,アメリカ大陸おそらくはオーストラリア大陸へ拡散した。人類の地球上への移動・拡散には移動には第1次(原人・旧人の時代)および第2次(ホモ・サピエンスの時代)があった。現在地球上に生存しているのはホモ・サピエンス1種だけである。これらの現象を明らかにするのに分子遺伝学によるミトコンドリアDNA,およびY染色体の分析がとくに有用であった。人類への進化には直立2足歩行と脳神経系とくに脳の発達が重要であったと考えられる。脳進化と脳遺伝子研究の現況について紹介した。The origin of the extant modern man was studied on anthropological and molecular genetic evidences. The following conclusions were obtained. Human developed into an unique genome originating from the simple genomic complexes in the life history. Many living things have thrived and become extinct in the different stage of earth history, especially related with the environmental changes and the molecular evolution of genes themselves. Many fossils of the human and possibly the related ape man have been discovered only in Africa. Human seems to be born in Africa. The gene diversities are also remarkable in Africa, which confirm the anthropological conclusion. After the birth, human groups left Africa and migrated to Eurasia, Asia and other areas of the earth. However, many human species died out, because of either cold weather or other difficulties in adaptation. Only the Neanderthals could survived untill relatively recently, though finally extinct due to the unknown reasons. Modern man, Homo Sapiens, evolved through Homo Heiderbergensis from Homo Ergaster, and moved out from Africa as the second wave of migration. Mitochondrial DNA and alleles on Y chromosome were found useful for investigating the history of the migration and composition of human populations. For the human evolution, the bipedal walking and the development of brain are thought as crucial. The molecular study of the human brain genes is now under the progression related with the evolution.5KJ00000097925departmental bulletin pape