The Missing landscape of human genomic diversity in the Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula (AP) is the first site of human migration and habitation outside of Africa. As a major crossroad for human populations, the AP provides an opportunity to better understand early to modern changes in human demographic patterns through selections, admixture, gene flow, and migration. Dramatic climatic fluctuations have been recorded in the AP that contributed to contractions and expansions in water availability. These climatological perturbations are thought to have shaped genomic variations in this population. Recent reports indicate that a number of Arab nation-states have committed significant resources to genetically type the national population, with the overall goal of determining the degree of genomic diversity in the AP. We sought to characterize currently typed genomic variation in Arabian populations to support the rationale for our proposed analyses of Saudi Arabian genomic diversity. Interestingly, in contrast to published claims , a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed reports on genomic analysis (N=20 papers) revealed no genomic data from four national genomic projects (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and The United Arab Emirates). Our analysis demonstrates that while much fanfare and presumably resources have been devoted to defining the genomic landscape of the Arabian peoples, little actual data is available to either substantiate or support such an investment.