Sydney, Feb 20 (IANS) Scientists have dramatically expanded the volume of genetic information about complex human diseases and their potential treatment.

A team of researchers from Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA), University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Penn State University, sequenced the genomes of indigenous Africans and found them to be among the world's most genetically diverse people.

The genomes of four Kalahari Desert Bushmen and an ethnic Bantu are the first to be sequenced from an indigenous population.

More than 1.3 million new genetic variants have been added to databases of Human Genome Variation which until now have been largely Eurocentric.

Featured as the cover story in Nature, the discovery has important implications for medical research, providing potential markers for the origins, treatments and cures for many of the most complex diseases, including cancer.

It also raises questions about current scientific assumptions regarding the genetic causes of many diseases.

'The indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of southern Africa are believed to be the oldest known lineage of modern humans,' said study co-leader Vanessa Hayes from the CCIA and UNSW.

'On average, we found as many genetic differences between two Bushmen, than between a European and an Asian.

'This research now provides us with the tools to read the story of human evolution and specifically the story of disease evolution,' Hayes said.

Significantly, the genomes are personalised, with all participants named and their medical histories recorded, says an UNSW release.

Among the participants was Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu - a representative of the Bantu community and a Global Elder.

The genome sequences will be released to the public and freely accessible online.

'It has been well established that the African continent is the cradle of civilisation and therefore the origin of disease, we just haven't known to what extent,' Hayes said.