Irish DNA Atlas

The Irish DNA Atlas has been published to present the results of a study on DNA in Ireland.

From Nature:

Article | OPEN | Published: 08 December 2017

The Irish DNA Atlas: Revealing Fine-Scale Population Structure and History within Ireland

Edmund Gilbert, Seamus O’Reilly, Michael Merrigan, Darren McGettigan, Anne M. Molloy, Lawrence C. Brody, Walter Bodmer, Katarzyna Hutnik, Sean Ennis, Daniel J. Lawson, James F. Wilson & Gianpiero L. Cavalleri

Scientific Reports volume 7, Article number: 17199 (2017) | Download Citation


An Author Correction to this article was published on 03 May 2018

This article has been updated


Abstract

The extent of population structure within Ireland is largely unknown, as is the impact of historical migrations. Here we illustrate fine-scale genetic structure across Ireland that follows geographic boundaries and present evidence of admixture events into Ireland. Utilising the ‘Irish DNA Atlas’, a cohort (n = 194) of Irish individuals with four generations of ancestry linked to specific regions in Ireland, in combination with 2,039 individuals from the Peoples of the British Isles dataset, we show that the Irish population can be divided in 10 distinct geographically stratified genetic clusters; seven of ‘Gaelic’ Irish ancestry, and three of shared Irish-British ancestry. In addition we observe a major genetic barrier to the north of Ireland in Ulster. Using a reference of 6,760 European individuals and two ancient Irish genomes, we demonstrate high levels of North-West French-like and West Norwegian-like ancestry within Ireland. We show that that our ‘Gaelic’ Irish clusters present homogenous levels of ancient Irish ancestries. We additionally detect admixture events that provide evidence of Norse-Viking gene flow into Ireland, and reflect the Ulster Plantations. Our work informs both on Irish history, as well as the study of Mendelian and complex disease genetics involving populations of Irish ancestry.

See the article for discussion and maps.

Also, see, People of the British Isles: preliminary analysis of genotypes and surnames in a UK-control population

Finding your Irish surnames origins

At the last FTDNA Administrators Conference, Dr Tyrone Bowes, PhD, gave a talk showing how one could find the origins of an Irish surname. It was a fascinating talk that he updated for Who DO You Think You Are. Links to both talks appear on this page. He has recently published a paper on it in the Surname DNA Journal:

Using Y Chromosome DNA Testing to Pinpoint a Genetic Homeland in Ireland

Abstract

Analytical techniques were developed combining the Surnames of Y-STR DNA matches, the 1911 Census of Ireland, and geographical place names to pinpoint the ‘Genetic Homeland’ of five (5) of eight (8) individuals used as test cases. Four (4) of the individuals were natives of Ireland and one (1) was a native of Scotland. The Genetic Homeland concept is based on the area where founding ancestors first adopted surnames and lived for hundreds or thousands of years. Although the surnames adopted may have been diverse and many or all descendants with a particular surname may have moved away from those areas, the geographical place names and other descendants from the same patriarch often remain in those geographies today.