Mark Shriver
PROFESSOR of Anthropology | Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA, UNITED STATES
Mark Shriver is an expert in recent developments in human evolution especially the spread of anatomically modern humans across the globe.
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Areas of Expertise (3)
Admixture Mapping
Anthropology
Modern Humans
Biography
Dr. Shriver’s lab addresses questions related to recent human evolution -- in particular the evolution that took place during and after the spread of anatomically modern humans across the globe. Since it is clear from both physiological and genetic studies that all human populations have a very recent common origin, features (namely, genes and genetically determined traits and disease risks) that are different between populations are unique in having undergone evolution in the recent past. Some of the phenotypes Dr. Shriver’s lab focuses on include skin pigmentation, voice pitch and other sexually dimorphic traits, hair traits, facial features, preterm birth risk, adaptation to altitude, and type-2 diabetes risk. Most recently, Dr. Shriver’s lab has been collecting 3-D images of faces, analyzing the DNA of the photographed individuals, and printing, with a 3-D printer, images of the individuals’ faces.
Dr. Shriver’s lab uses methods of admixture mapping, which are well suited to the identification of genes that determine interpopulation differences in traits such as those listed above. Starting in the early 2000s, Dr. Shriver and his group made progress laying a foundation for understanding the population dynamics of admixed populations and the importance of population structure in making phenotype/admixture correlations detectible. His was one of the first groups to show with real data that the extensive population structure that results from admixture can be effectively controlled for using statistics.
Education (2)
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: Ph.D. 1993
State University of New York at Stony Brook: B.S. 1987
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Articles (5)
Investigating the case of human nose shape and climate adaptation
PLoS genetics
Arslan A Zaidi, Brooke C Mattern, Peter Claes, Brian McEcoy, Cris Hughes, Mark D Shriver
2017 The evolutionary reasons for variation in nose shape across human populations have been subject to continuing debate. An import function of the nose and nasal cavity is to condition inspired air before it reaches the lower respiratory tract. For this reason, it is thought the observed differences in nose shape among populations are not simply the result of genetic drift, but may be adaptations to climate. To address the question of whether local adaptation to climate is responsible for nose shape divergence across populations, we use Qst–Fst comparisons to show that nares width and alar base width are more differentiated across populations than expected under genetic drift alone. To test whether this differentiation is due to climate adaptation, we compared the spatial distribution of these variables with the global distribution of temperature, absolute humidity, and relative humidity. We find that width of the nares is correlated with temperature and absolute humidity, but not with relative humidity. We conclude that some aspects of nose shape may indeed have been driven by local adaptation to climate. However, we think that this is a simplified explanation of a very complex evolutionary history, which possibly also involved other non-neutral forces such as sexual selection.
Genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia reveal colonization routes and high-latitude adaptation
bioRxiv
Torsten Günther, Helena Malmström, Emma Svensson, Ayça Omrak, Federico Sánchez-Quinto, Gülşah M Kılınç, Maja Krzewińska, Gunilla Eriksson, Magdalena Fraser, Hanna Edlund, Arielle R Munters, Alexandra Coutinho, Luciana G Simões, Mário Vicente, Anders Sjölander, Berit Jansen Sellevold, Roger Jørgensen, Peter Claes, Mark D Shriver, Cristina Valdiosera, Mihai G Netea, Jan Apel, Kerstin Lidén, Birgitte Skar, Jan Storå, Anders Götherström, Mattias Jakobsson
2017 Scandinavia was one of the last geographic areas in Europe to become habitable for humans after the last glaciation. However, the origin(s) of the first colonizers and their migration routes remain unclear. We sequenced the genomes, up to 57x coverage, of seven hunter-gatherers excavated across Scandinavia and dated to 9,500-6,000 years before present. Surprisingly, among the Scandinavian Mesolithic individuals, the genetic data display an east-west genetic gradient that opposes the pattern seen in other parts of Mesolithic Europe. This result suggests that Scandinavia was initially colonized following two different routes: one from the south, the other from the northeast. The latter followed the ice-free Norwegian north Atlantic coast, along which novel and advanced pressure-blade stone-tool techniques may have spread. These two groups met and mixed in Scandinavia, creating a genetically diverse population, which shows patterns of genetic adaptation to high latitude environments. These adaptations include high frequencies of low pigmentation variants and a gene-region associated with physical performance, which shows strong continuity into modern-day northern Europeans.
Are there vocal cues to human developmental stability? Relationships between facial fluctuating asymmetry and voice attractiveness
Evolution and Human Behavior
Alexander K Hill, Rodrigo A Cárdenas, John R Wheatley, Lisa LM Welling, Robert P Burriss, Peter Claes, Coren L Apicella, Michael A McDaniel, Anthony C Little, Mark D Shriver, David A Puts
2017 Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), deviation from perfect bilateral symmetry, is thought to reflect an organism's relative inability to maintain stable morphological development in the face of environmental and genetic stressors. Previous research has documented negative relationships between FA and attractiveness judgments in humans, but scant research has explored relationships between the human voice and this putative marker of genetic quality in either sex. Only one study (and in women only) has explored relationships between vocal attractiveness and asymmetry of the face, a feature-rich trait space central in prior work on human genetic quality and mate choice. We therefore examined this relationship in three studies comprising 231 men and 240 women from two Western samples as well as Hadza hunter–gatherers of Tanzania.
Modular 3D dense surface analysis and GWAS reveal localized genetic effects on human facial morphology involving multiple novel loci
The FASEB Journal
Seth M Weinberg, Myoung Keun Lee, Elizabeth J Leslie, Ekaterina Orlova, Jenna C Carlson, Jasmien Roosenboom, Brooke C Mattern, Corey R Liebowitz, Julie D White, Arslan Zaidi, Diego Hernandez, Tomas Gonzalez, Laurel N Pearson, Dzemila Sero, Jiarui Li, Eleanor Feingold, Mary L Marazita, John R Shaffer, Joanna Wysocka, Mark D Shriver, Peter Claes
2017 Many aspects of human facial morphology are under strong genetic control. Several GWASs of normal facial variation have been completed, with each identifying a handful of significant findings. However, a large number of genes are expected to influence facial morphology, suggesting that a different approach is needed. We performed a GWAS on 2329 individuals of European descent with available 3D facial scans. To derive phenotypes, we established a dense correspondence among the 3D facial surfaces (~10,000 pseudolandmarks) and applied a novel hierarchical modular facial decomposition approach. Facial modules were identified based on pair-wise 3D correlations of spatially-dense landmark configurations in a hierarchical spectral clustering approach. This resulted in a decomposition of the 3D facial surface morphology into 63 distinct modules. Shape variation in each of the modules was captured separately using principal component (PC) analysis. SNPs were tested for association with modular shape PCs via multivariate canonical correlation analysis, controlling for sex, age, height, weight, and population stratification. In total, we identified 41 genome-wide significant (5×10E-8) loci associated with at least one facial module. Most of the associated loci were novel, but contained one or more plausible craniofacial candidate genes based on evidence from mouse models and/or syndromes (TBX15, SOX9, PAX1).
Exploring the underlying genetics of craniofacial morphology through various sources of knowledge
BioMed research international
Jasmien Roosenboom, Greet Hens, Brooke C Mattern, Mark D Shriver, Peter Claes
2016 The craniofacial complex is the billboard of sorts containing information about sex, health, ancestry, kinship, genes, and environment. A thorough knowledge of the genes underlying craniofacial morphology is fundamental to understanding craniofacial biology and evolution. These genes can also provide an important foundation for practical efforts like predicting faces from DNA and phenotype-based facial diagnostics. In this work, we focus on the various sources of knowledge regarding the genes that affect patterns of craniofacial development. Although tremendous successes recently have been made using these sources in both methodology and biology, many challenges remain. Primary among these are precise phenotyping techniques and efficient modeling methods.
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