Pathogens have presented a continuous environmental pressure throughout human history with their ability to change their prevalence and genetic makeup swiftly. Consequently, genomic regions in humans associated with the immune response have been identified as prime targets of various modes of natural selection and significant contributions from diverse ancestral components. Continuous efforts have been put into the reconstruction of the role of particular pathogens in these evolutionary processes. This project focuses on the impact of pathogen exposure on shaping the genomic makeup of humans throughout their recent history. In order to approach this research question, the project will take advantage of the ever growing number of existing genomic and phenotypic information, including numerous datasets from the Estonian Biobank, in combination with experimental immune profile data exclusively generated for this project. The main aim is to systematically analyse genomic and immunological datasets to identify genomic regions associated with pathogen-specific immune response processes and use this information to explore the role of evolutionary processes such as selection and admixture on these regions. By combining this information, the project aims at identifying how pathogens exposure has shaped the genomes of humans throughout their history.
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