My research interests are focused on the study of the genetic variability of the human populations, considering different aspects:

• The study of the human Y chromosome genetic diversity in order to understand the evolutionary dynamics of the human populations in Africa and Europe;
• The analysis of the whole genome diversity in ancient individuals to predict their phenotypic features and to identify possible targets of selection;
• The study of the genetic variability of African populations with a forensic relevance;
• The role of the gene conversion in the evolution and in the genetic diversity of the human sex chromosomes.

• Saag L, Vasilyev SV, Varul L, Kosorukova NV, Gerasimov DV, Oshibkina SV, Griffith SJ, Solnik A, Saag L, D'Atanasio E, Metspalu E, Reidla M, Rootsi S, Kivisild T, Scheib CL, Tambets K, Kriiska A, Metspalu M. (2021) Genetic ancestry changes in Stone to Bronze Age transition in the East European plain. Sci. Adv. 7:eabd6535. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd6535.

• Hui R, D'Atanasio E^, Cassidy LM, Scheib CL, Kivisild T. (2020) Evaluating genotype imputation pipeline for ultra-low coverage ancient genomes. Sci. Rep. 10:18542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75387-w.

• Della Rocca C, Cannone F, D'Atanasio E, Bonito M, Anagnostou P, Russo G, Barni F, Alladio E, Destro-Bisol G, Trombetta B, Berti A, Cruciani F. (2020) Ethnic fragmentation and degree of urbanization strongly affect the discrimination power of Y-STR haplotypes in central Sahel. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 49:102374. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2020.102374.
  

• D'Atanasio E, Trionfetti F, Bonito M, Sellitto D, Coppa A, Berti A, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. (2020) Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades. Genome Biol. Evol. 12:1579-1590. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evaa176.
  

• Scheib CL, Hui R, D'Atanasio E, Wohns AW, Inskip SA, Rose A, Cessford C, O'Connell TC, Robb JE, Evans C, Patten R, Kivisild T. (2019) East Anglian early Neolithic monument burial linked to contemporary Megaliths. Ann. Hum. Biol. 46:145-149. doi: 10.1080/03014460.2019.1623912.

• Saag L, Laneman M, Varul L, Malve M, Valk H, Razzak MA, Shirobokov IG, Khartanovich VI, Mikhaylova ER, Kushniarevich A, Scheib CL, Solnik A, Reisberg T, Parik J, Saag L, Metspalu E, Rootsi S, Montinaro F, Remm M, Mägi R, D'Atanasio E, Crema ER, Díez-del-Molino D, Thomas MG, Kriiska A, Kivisild T, Villems R, Lang V, Metspalu M, Tambets K. (2019) The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers Further East Curr. Biol. 29:1701-1711. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.026.

• D'Atanasio E, Iacovacci G, Pistillo R, Bonito M, Dugoujon JM, Moral P, El-Chennawi F, Melhaoui M, Baali A, Cherkaoui M, Sellitto D, Trombetta B, Berti A, Cruciani F. (2019) Rapidly mutating Y-STRs in rapidly expanding populations: Discrimination power of the Yfiler Plus multiplex in northern Africa. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 38:185-194. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.11.002.

• D'Atanasio E, Bonito M, Iacovacci G, Berti A, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. (2019) Identification and molecular characterisation of an AMEL-X null allele due to an Alu insertion. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 38:e1-e4. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.10.020.

• D’Atanasio E^, Trombetta B^, Bonito M, Finocchio A, Di Vito G, Seghizzi M, Romano R, Russo G, Paganotti GM, Watson E, Coppa A, Anagnostou P, Dugoujon J-M, Moral P, Sellitto D, Novelletto A, Cruciani F. (2018) The peopling of the last Green Sahara revealed by high-coverage resequencing of trans-Saharan patrilineages. Genome Biol. 19:20. doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1393-5.

• Finocchio A, Trombetta B, Messina F, D’Atanasio E, Akar N, Loutradis A, Michalodimitrakis EI, Cruciani F, Novelletto A. (2018) A finely resolved phylogeny of Y chromosome Hg J illuminates the processes of Phoenician and Greek colonizations in the Mediterranean. Sci. Rep. 8. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25912-9.

• Iacovacci G^, D’Atanasio E^, Marini O^, Coppa A, Sellitto D, Trombetta B, Berti A, Cruciani F. (2017) Forensic data and microvariant sequence characterization of 27 Y-STR loci analyzed in four Eastern African countries. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 27:123–131. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.12.015.

• Trombetta B, D’Atanasio E, Cruciani F. (2017) Patterns of inter-chromosomal gene conversion on the male-specific region of the human Y chromosome. Front. Genet. 8:1–7. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2017.00054.

• Trombetta B, Fantini G, D’Atanasio E, Sellitto D, Cruciani F. (2016) Evidence of extensive non-allelic gene conversion among LTR elements in the human genome. Sci. Rep. 6. doi: 10.1038/srep28710.

• Rapone C^, D’Atanasio E^, Agostino A, Mariano M, Papaluca MT, Cruciani F, Berti A. (2016) Forensic genetic value of a 27 Y-STR loci multiplex (Yfiler® Plus kit) in an Italian population sample. Forensic Sci. Int. Genet. 21:e1–e5. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.11.006.

• Trombetta B^, D’Atanasio E^, Massaia A, Ippoliti M, Coppa A, Candilio F, Coia V, Russo G, Dugoujon J-M, Moral P, Akar N, Sellitto D, Valesini G, Novelletto A, Scozzari R, Cruciani F. (2015) Phylogeographic refinement and large scale genotyping of human Y chromosome haplogroup E provide new insights into the dispersal of early pastoralists in the African continent. Genome Biol. Evol. 7:1940–1950. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evv118.

• Trombetta B, D’Atanasio E, Massaia A, Myres NM, Scozzari R, Cruciani F, Novelletto A. (2015) Regional differences in the accumulation of SNPs on the male-specific portion of the human Y chromosome replicate autosomal patterns: Implications for genetic dating. PLoS One 10:e0134646. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134646.

• Scozzari R, Massaia A, D’Atanasio E, Myres NM, Perego UA, Trombetta B, Cruciani F. (2012) Molecular dissection of the basal clades in the human Y chromosome phylogenetic tree. PLoS One 7:e49170. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049170.

^ These authors contributed equally to this work.