Confucius' DNA test

Chinese scientists have determined the DNA signature for Confucius and are providing a test for possible descendants of Kung Fu Tzu. See the story here:
http://channels.netscape.com/tech/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-romta&idq= /ff/story/0002%2F20060616%2F0445390249.htm&sc=romta

The Journal of Genetic Genealogy has posted issue 3, Spring 2006

2006 Y Haplogroup tree from ISOGG

The ISOGG has posted a re-worked 2006 Y Haplogroup Tree at http://www.isogg.org/tree/index.html. This tree continues the work previously done by the Y Haplogroup Consortium. and Family Tree DNA.

A presentation on Anglo-Saxon migration

The link above will take you to a site where a 12.5 minute presentation will discuss evidence for an Anglo-Saxon mass migration to Britain within the past 2,500 years. You will need sound capability to hear the narration.

The original paper can be read here: mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/19/7/1008.

Chief Blue Jacket is not a Swearingen

A new scientific study has shown that Chief Blue Jacket is not a member of the Swearingen family. Y DNA tests on his descendants and on Swearingen descendants show that he is a Native American and not a European as had been believed.

The paper reporting on the tests wll be presented at an upcoming meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science.

MSNBC page on Genetic Genealogy

MSNBC has a web page on Genetic Genealogy at this address: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3038411/ Several of the NBC journalists have participated in DNA testing. The page has regular updates on Genetic Genealogy stories.

Ethnic Origins DNA Testing Company Comparison

The ISOGG, http://www.isogg.org/ has a web page with a chart comparing companies which purport to identify your ethnic origin using Y chromosome (Y DNA), mitochodrial (mtDNA), or autosomal (atDNA) DNA.

Spencer Wells and John Hawks on Radio Open-Source

The Genetics of Genealogy http://www.radioopensource.org/the-genetics-of-genealogy/ is a page on Radio Open Source web site dedicated to the broadcast of a discussion with Spencer Wells, John Hawks and Andy Carvin, on genetics and genealogy.

The actual program can be heard at this link: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/ros/open_source_060330.mp3

FTDNA has 59 marker test

FTDNA has announced a new 59 Marker test for the Y chromosome. The link above will take you to their page about Y DNA testing and the 59 marker test.

They have also revised their Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) chart to show how this test will help to lower the number of generations one needs to search for the common ancestor: How many markers to test? http://www.familytreedna.com/faq2.html

The theoretical reality of these calculations will be tested when 59 marker results start to come in from know relatives.

10 SNPs sufficient to determine main biogeographic ancestry

This article will be available 6 months after publication:
Am J Hum Genet. 2006 Apr;78(4):680-90. Epub 2006 Feb 14.
Proportioning whole-genome single-nucleotide-polymorphism diversity for the identification of geographic population structure and genetic ancestry.
Lao O, Duijn K, Kersbergen P, Knijff P, Kayser M.
Department of Forensic Molecular Biology, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. m.kayser@erasmusmc.nl.

The identification of geographic population structure and genetic ancestry on the basis of a minimal set of genetic markers is desirable for a wide range of applications in medical and forensic sciences. However, the absence of sharp discontinuities in the neutral genetic diversity among human populations implies that, in practice, a large number of neutral markers will be required to identify the genetic ancestry of one individual. We showed that it is possible to reduce the amount of markers required for detecting continental population structure to only 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), by applying a newly developed ascertainment algorithm to Affymetrix GeneChip Mapping 10K SNP array data that we obtained from samples of globally dispersed human individuals (the Y Chromosome Consortium panel). Furthermore, this set of SNPs was able to recover the genetic ancestry of individuals from all four continents represented in the original data set when applied to an independent, much larger, worldwide population data set (Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain-Human Genome Diversity Project Cell Line Panel). Finally, we provide evidence that the unusual patterns of genetic variation we observed at the respective genomic regions surrounding the five most informative SNPs is in agreement with local positive selection being the explanation for the striking SNP allele-frequency differences we found between continental groups of human populations.

PMID: 16532397 [PubMed - in process]