Targets of Balancing Selection in the Human Genome

The authors looked at 13400 genes in two human populations for evidence of balancing selection; in particular, they looked for evidence of excess polymorphism and intermediate-frequency alleles. They find 60 candidate genes, and not surprisingly, many factor into immune function, though others encode keratin and membrane channels. Interestingly, they also find possible evidence for population differences in balancing selection between the two groups in 13 of the candidate genes.