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Gene Studies Confirm "Out Of Africa" Theories
Yahoo News ^ | 2-20-2008 | Maggie Fox

Posted on 02/20/2008 2:42:03 PM PST by blam

Gene studies confirm "out of Africa" theories

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas.

The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.

One of the studies shows European-Americans have more small mutations, while the others show Native Americans, Polynesians and others who populated Australia and Oceania have more big genetic changes.

The studies, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, paint a picture of a population of humans migrating off the African continent, and then shrinking at some point because of unknown adversity.

Later populations grew and spread from this smaller genetic pool of founder ancestors -- a phenomenon known as a bottleneck.

Populations that remained in Africa kept their genetic diversity -- something seen in many other studies.

"The one thing that I think we cannot say from this study is that any one person's genome is any healthier or evolutionarily fit than another person's genome," said Carlos Bustamante of Cornell University in New York, who worked on one study.

"You have to think of this at the population level," Bustamante said in a telephone interview.

Bustamante's team has been looking at the DNA sequences of 15 African-Americans and 20 European-Americans, examining tiny one-letter changes in the DNA code called single-nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced "snips").

FIT OR EXTINCT

They tested these changes to qualify them as benign, or potentially affecting genes, amino acids and eventually proteins in a way that could damage health or make people less "fit" -- in evolutionary terms, less likely to survive and reproduce.

"Like every other study ... the African-American panel as a whole showed more variation than the European-American panel," Bustamante said.

Then his team did a computer simulation of a bottleneck, and found it predicted this pattern.

Bustamante said it is possible some of the SNPs are beneficial, and he said his team and others should compare the genetic changes they found to known genetic changes linked with diseases.

"I wish we had done that (already)," he admitted.

In the other study, Noah Rosenberg and colleagues at the University of Michigan and the National Institute on Aging analyzed DNA from 485 people around the world.

They looked for three types of genetic variation, including SNPs and larger changes that involve duplications, deletions and repetitions of large segments of DNA.

The patterns they found produced what they call the highest-resolution map yet of human genetic variation.

They also reinforce the idea that humans originated in Africa, then spread into the Middle East, followed by Europe and Asia, the Pacific Islands and finally to the Americas.

"Diversity has been eroded through the migration process," Rosenberg said in a statement.

People of African descent are the most genetically diverse, followed by people from the Middle East, and then Asians and Europeans. Native Americans resemble one another the most on a DNA level.

The study also found it is sometimes possible to trace a person's ancestry to a small group within a geographic region.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gene; gigo; godsgravesglyphs; outogafrica; snoozers; theory
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1 posted on 02/20/2008 2:42:06 PM PST by blam
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To: SunkenCiv; Pharmboy

GGG Ping.


2 posted on 02/20/2008 2:42:35 PM PST by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: blam
more small . . . more big

Love that grammar.

3 posted on 02/20/2008 2:44:32 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Mike Huckabee: If Gomer Pyle and Hugo Chavez had a love child this is who it would be.)
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To: blam

bfl


4 posted on 02/20/2008 2:44:51 PM PST by Excellence (Bacon Bits Make Great Confetti)
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To: blam

Here we go again. For years they have been trying to prove my ancestors did not arrive on the great ice ship. Still no proof they hadn’t.


5 posted on 02/20/2008 2:45:09 PM PST by Bringbackthedraft
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To: blam

Guess those Chinese supporters of parallel evolution of Homo Sapiens aren’t going to be too happy with this.


6 posted on 02/20/2008 2:46:47 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Mike Huckabee: If Gomer Pyle and Hugo Chavez had a love child this is who it would be.)
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To: blam

This is really stupid .... .

I suppose Africans are still “evolving”?

LOL!


7 posted on 02/20/2008 2:48:20 PM PST by nmh (Mike Huckabee the "religious" humanist that pushes socialism! (Clinton/Carter combo))
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
more small . . . more big

I was wondering how that would have gone over with my old high school English teacher.

8 posted on 02/20/2008 2:50:13 PM PST by mtbopfuyn (The fence is "absolutely not the answer" - Gov. Rick Perry (R, TX))
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To: blam

So I guess the Africans now have a “right” to all the land in the world. That’ll tick the Mexicans off.


9 posted on 02/20/2008 2:51:34 PM PST by randog (What the...?!)
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To: blam

Turns out that we are ALL African-American. I know that from now on when I fill out those government forms I am checking that box and daring them the prove otherwise.


10 posted on 02/20/2008 2:52:50 PM PST by scory
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To: blam
The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.

This is why Africa leads the world in culture, economics, respect for individual liberty, etc... /s

11 posted on 02/20/2008 2:56:20 PM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is an EVIL like no other, and must be ERADICTED)
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To: nmh

Given the degree of horrific violence, the smartest ones left. Those left behind have some evolving left to do.


12 posted on 02/20/2008 3:12:21 PM PST by tbw2 (Science fiction with real science - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: tbw2

You’re too funny ... that “horrific violence” still goes on ... without “evolution” by many races ... .


13 posted on 02/20/2008 3:16:26 PM PST by nmh (Mike Huckabee the "religious" humanist that pushes socialism! (Clinton/Carter combo))
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To: blam
Image hosted by Photobucket.com only the smart ones left...
14 posted on 02/20/2008 3:16:35 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: scory
Turns out that we are ALL African-American. I know that from now on when I fill out those government forms I am checking that box and daring them the prove otherwise.

Actually a guy I work with (white, blond, from Minnesota) did that on a company form. The HR office gave him a hard time and he stood his ground. The HR office finally dropped the issue and let his claim stand. He was just annoyed that all those forms want to know "race."

15 posted on 02/20/2008 3:19:08 PM PST by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: nmh

My fiction (sci-fi, horror, etc) has the same irony.


16 posted on 02/20/2008 3:23:51 PM PST by tbw2 (Science fiction with real science - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: meowmeow

That’s funny!


17 posted on 02/20/2008 3:29:05 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham ("The land of the Free...Because of the Brave")
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To: tbw2
Does this prove once and for all that we're all related to the Annunaki?
18 posted on 02/20/2008 3:30:57 PM PST by doctor noe
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To: mtbopfuyn
more small . . . more big

I was wondering how that would have gone over with my old high school English teacher.

If he knew his stuff, he'd have no problem. "more" modifies the word omitted (mutations)--"more small mutations ... more large mutations." One group has more mutations which are small; the other group has more mutations which are large.

This should not be confused with the comparatives of small or large (smaller, larger). Such a substitution results in a different statement.

"One group has smaller mutations; the other group has larger mutations"

...which says nothing about the relative number of such mutations. Clear?

19 posted on 02/20/2008 3:37:21 PM PST by nonsporting
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To: blam

people in white lab coats with test tubes is not a basis for reality.


20 posted on 02/20/2008 3:47:19 PM PST by spanalot
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