Human evolutionary genetics
![The sequences of the DNA segments diverge earlier than the species. A large effective population size in the ancestral population (left) preserves different variants of the DNA segments (=alleles) for a longer period of time. Therefore, on average, the gene divergence times (tA for DNA segment A; tB for DNA segment B) will deviate more from the time the species diverge (tS) compared to a small ancestral effective population size (right).](/Images/godic/202501/15/SpeciesVsGeneDivergenceTime.svg4724.png")
![A and B are two different loci. In the upper figure they fit to the species tree. The DNA that is present in today's gorillas diverged earlier from the DNA that is present in today's humans and chimps. Thus both loci should be more similar between human and chimp than between gorilla and chimp or gorilla and human. In the lower graph, locus A has a more recent common ancestor in human and gorilla compared to the chimp sequence. Whereas chimp and gorilla have a more recent common ancestor for locus B. Here the gene trees are incongruent to the species tree.](/Images/godic/202501/15/Ancestralsizehuman.svg4725.png")
![Dominant Y-chromosome haplogroups in pre-colonial world populations, with possible migrations routes according to the Coastal Migration Model.](/Images/godic/202501/15/World_Map_of_Y-DNA_Haplogroups4725.png")
Human evolutionary genetics studies how one human genome differs from another human genome, the evolutionary past that gave rise to it, and its current effects. Differences between genomes have anthropological, medical and forensic implications and applications. Genetic data can provide important insight into human evolution.