Research: Human Genes can Map Persons' Ancestry to Home Countries

by Rajashri on  September 03, 2008 at 10:38 AM Research News
  •   Print
  •   Share
  •   Comments
  •  Text 
The researchers recorded the results alongside the country of origin for each subject as well as that of their parents and grandparents when possible.

Half a million SNPs were decoded for each subject, but to get an overall assessment of the difference between any two genomes, the researchers used a mathematical trick that scrunched the hundreds of thousands of SNPs into two coordinates, with each person's genome represented by a point.

The greater the distance between two points, the greater the difference in their genomes.

A striking map of Europe emerged when the two teams plotted thousands of genomes on a single graph along with their country of origin.

While Spanish and Portuguese genomes clustered "south-west" of French genomes, Italian genomes jutted "south-east" of Swiss.

The researcher said that though the cardinal directions were artificial, the spatial relationships between genomes were not.

The closer together two people lived, they added, the more similar their DNA.

Telling about the accuracy of the map, Novembre revealed that when a geopolitical map was placed over it, half of the genomes landed within 310 kilometres of their country of origin, while 90 per cent fell within 700 km.

Both teams found that southern Europeans boast more overall genetic diversity than Scandinavians, British and Irish.

"That makes perfect sense with the major migration waves that went into Europe," says Kayser, noting Homo sapien's European debut 35,000 years ago, post-ice age expansions 20,000 years ago, and movements propelled by the advent of farming 10,000 years ago.

In each case, members of established southern populations struck north.

"A pattern in which genes mirror geography is essentially what you would expect from a history in which people moved slowly and mated mainly with their close neighbours," says Noah Rosenberg, a geneticist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The studies have been published in the journals Nature and Current Biology.

Source-ANI
RAS/M
Previous Page 2 Page 1 | 2 
 Email Email   RSS Feeds RSS Feeds   Print this page Print   Save this page Save   Link Link   Syndicate Syndicate   Comments Comments   Bookmark and Share
 
Comment & Contribute
Comments should be on the topic and should not be abusive. Comments are normally moderated and are reviewed after they are posted.
* Your comment can be maximum of 2500 characters

Notify me when reply is posted
I agree to the terms and conditions
  
If you have a question about health related issues, you can now post it in our Ask An Expert section on our community website Medwonders.com and get answers from our panel of experts.
X

Medwonders Health Network

  • Health News Index
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
News Archive
Date :
Category :
Keyword :
  • News Quick Links
News Central Health Watch
Latest Health News Health In Focus
News Category (500+) Breaking Health News
Popular News Celebrating Life
Health News and Press Release Medindia - Exclusive
News Photo Gallery India Special
News Video Gallery Lifestyle and Wellness
News From Other Resources
News Categories:  
Child Health Center

Research Related News

» New Record for Arthritic Surgery Created » Descendants' Sensitivity To Stress Aggravated by Chemical Exposure
» Drug to Destroy Parasite Causing Death Globally, Discovered » Molecule Flicking On Immune System, Spotted
» Danger Detected in Standard Treatment for A Grave Lung Disease » Scientists Turn Skin Cells Into Healthy Heart Muscle
» Statins Use May Help Prevent Prostate Enlargement » Biomarkers to Confirm Radiation Exposure
Read More >>