Structural diversity and African origin of the 17q21.31 inversion polymorphism

The 17q21.31 inversion polymorphism exists either as direct (H1) or inverted (H2) haplotypes with differential predispositions to disease and selection. We investigated its genetic diversity in 2,700 individuals, with an emphasis on African populations. We characterize eight structural haplotypes due to complex rearrangements that vary in size from 1.08-1.49 Mb and provide evidence for a 30-kb H1-H2 double recombination event. We show that recurrent partial duplications of the KANSL1 gene have occurred on both the H1 and H2 haplotypes and have risen to high frequency in European populations. We identify a likely ancestral H2 haplotype (H2') lacking these duplications that is enriched among African hunter-gatherer groups yet essentially absent from West African populations. Whereas H1 and H2 segmental duplications arose independently and before human migration out of Africa, they have reached high frequencies recently among Europeans, either because of extraordinary genetic drift or selective sweeps.     

First-principles investigation on initial stage of 2H-SiC(001) surface oxidation

We present comprehensive first-principles calculations on the initial stages of SiC oxidation by atomic oxygen on the 2H-SiC(001) surface. In order to study the kinetics of oxygen incorporation at the 2H-SiC(001) surface, we investigated adsorption and diffusion of oxygen atoms and SiO₂ nucleation. The adsorption sites, corresponding to the local minima of the potential energy surface (PES) for isolated adatoms, were identified through a comparative study of the adatom binding energy at different locations. We found that the Bridge (siloxane) site is preferred over other adsorption sites. There is no energy barrier at 0K for oxygen insertion into this site. The diffusion energy barriers that the adatom has to overcome when jumping between two adsorption sites were calculated. The premises of silica nucleation were investigated by calculating the modifications of the oxygen atom binding energy due to the interaction with neighboring adatoms. Supported by Snecma Propulsion Solide (Contract FPR No. 0539298A), Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 50802076) and Flying Star Program of Northwestern Polytechnical University of China