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A continuum of admixture in the Western Hemisphere revealed by the African Diaspora genome
The African Diaspora in the Western Hemisphere represents one of the largest forced migrations in
history and had a profound impact on genetic diversity in modern populations. To date, the fine-scale
population structure of descendants of the African Diaspora remains largely uncharacterized. Here we
present genetic variation from deeply sequenced genomes of 642 individuals from North and South
American, Caribbean and West African populations, substantially increasing the lexicon of human
genomic variation and suggesting much variation remains to be discovered in African-admixed populations
in the Americas. We summarize genetic variation in these populations, quantifying the postcolonial
sex-biased European gene flow across multiple regions. Moreover, we refine estimates on the
burden of deleterious variants carried across populations and how this varies with African ancestry. Our
data are an important resource for empowering disease mapping studies in African-admixed individuals
and will facilitate gene discovery for diseases disproportionately affecting individuals of African ancestry