Un'iniziativa congiunta - Max Planck Institute di Lipsia e Oxford University di Londra - ha proposto una mappa globale illustrante in dettaglio la Storia Genetica di 95 diverse popolazioni del Mondo, per un periodo di circa 4.000 anni. Pare che questa mappa sia accessibile attraverso l'Internet e sia interattiva: lo studio sottostante al lavoro è stato pubblicato su 'Nature' ed ha implicato l'esame del genoma di 1490 individui. Dimostra quale sia l'impatto genetico sulle popolazioni di fatti storicamente accaduti, quali il colonialismo Europeo, la formazione dell'Impero Mongolo, La tratta Araba degli schiavi ed il commercio lungo la Via della Seta.
reveals
likely genetic impacts
of historical events
The Kalash people who live in the Hindu Kush Mountains of modern Pakistan carry genes that probably originated in Europe and might have been carried East by the Macedonian Army of Alexander the Great [Credit: James L. Stanfield/National Geographic Creative]
The interactive world map that is accessible via the internet, details the histories of genetic mixing between each of the 95 populations across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. It shows likely genetic impacts of historical events including European colonialism, the Mongol Empire, the Arab slave trade and European traders near the Silk Road mixing with people in China. The study, published this week in Science, is the first to simultaneously identify, date and characterise genetic mixing between populations. To do this, the researchers developed sophisticated statistical methods to analyse the DNA of 1490 individuals in 95 populations around the world. "DNA really has the power to tell stories and uncover details of humanity's past," said Simon Myers of Oxford University's Department
Selected admixture events.
Boxes show historical events, while blobs show dates inferred using genetic data, including the statistical uncertainty around them [Credit: The Chromosome Painting Collective]
Boxes show historical events, while blobs show dates inferred using genetic data, including the statistical uncertainty around them [Credit: The Chromosome Painting Collective]
"Because our approach uses only genetic data, it provides information independent from other sources. Many of our genetic observations match historical events, and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 CE, Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly, the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road."
The powerful technique, christened 'Globetrotter', provides insight into past events such as the genetic legacy of the Mongol Empire. Historical records suggest that the Hazara people of Pakistan are partially descended from Mongol warriors, and this study found clear evidence of Mongol DNA entering the population during the period of the Mongol Empire.
Six other populations, from as far west as Turkey, showed similar evidence of genetic mixing with Mongols around the same time.
Selected admixture events inferred using genetic data. Locations and ancestry proportions contributed by incoming group.
Different incoming groups are represented by the different colors highlighted in the previous image [Credit: The Chromosome Painting Collective]
"What amazes me most is simply how well our technique works," said Garrett Hellenthal of the UCL Genetics Institute, lead author of the study. "Although individual mutations carry only weak signals about where a person is from, by adding information across the whole genome we can reconstruct these mixing events. Sometimes individuals sampled from nearby regions can have surprisingly different sources of mixing. For example, we identify distinct events happening at different times among groups other than the Hazara sampled within Pakistan, with some inheriting DNA from sub-Saharan Africa, perhaps related to the Arab Slave Trade, another from East Asia, and yet another from ancient Europe. Nearly all our populations show mixing events, so they are very common throughout recent history and often involve people migrating over large distances." The team used genome data for all 1490 individuals to identify 'chunks' of DNA that were shared between individuals from different populations. Populations sharing more ancestry share more chunks, and individual chunks give clues about the underlying ancestry along chromosomes.
This is a schematic of the admixture process [Credit: The chromosome painting collective]
"Each population has a particular genetic 'palette'," said Daniel Falush of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, co-senior author of the study. "If you were to paint the genomes of people in modern-day Maya, for example, you would use a mixed palette with colours from Spanish-like, West African and Native American DNA. This mix dates back to around 1670 AD, consistent with historical accounts describing Spanish and West African people entering the Americas around that time. Though we can't directly sample DNA from the groups that mixed in the past, we can capture much of the DNA of these original groups as persisting, within a mixed palette of modern-day groups." As well as providing fresh insights into historical events, the new research might have implications for how DNA impacts health and disease in different populations.
Source: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft [February 13, 2014]
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