Conclusion
All analyses concluded that sub-Saharan African individuals are
ancestral and genetically distinct from all other non-African
individuals. Sub-Saharan samples also had the highest heterozygosity
mirroring its host. Unlike the mitochondrial clades, nuclear genetic
clusters of lice are highly structured based on geography (continental
and major regions within continents). This mito-nuclear incongruence is
possibly due to different evolutionary histories of the markers.
Although we do not know the exact timing of this genetic population
structure that we observed, it seems possible that these five nuclear
genetic clusters are a result of more recent events of human migration
(e.g European colonization) and settlement across the world (Ascunce
2013) or it is reflective of major historical events in the human
history such as anatomically modern humans moving out of Africa. Further
investigations on the timing of these nuclear population splits and
coalescent based approaches to investigate the most recent common
ancestor are needed to confirm the host influence on shaping the genetic
structure of this parasite.