ABSTRACT
Central Africa hosts populations characterised by diverse linguistic, cultural, and genetic backgrounds. In this study, we have generated new genome-wide genotype data for multiple Bantu-speaking and Ubangi-speaking populations from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) collected and analysed within the ERC-funded BantuFirst and AfricanNeo projects, including rainforest hunter-gatherer (RHG) populations considered autochthonous groups. Our findings reveal significant genetic similarities among African individuals with different lifestyles, geographical distribution (e.g., western versus eastern populations), or speaking languages belonging to different language families. Particularly, populations from the western region of the DRC are genetically distinct between and within them, suggesting population substructure in this region. We also detected patterns of admixture between non-RHG Bantu- and Ubangi-speaking populations in the DRC. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic components and population interactions within the DRC and more generally in Central Africa, emphasising the region's complex mosaic of cultural and genetic diversity.
