Gene Study Supports Single Main Migration Across Bering Strait

Eureka Alert ^ | 11-26-2007 | Anne Rueter

[blam]

Thanks to Pharmboy for the article.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[RightWhale]

These immigrants had boats. Walking from Alaska to anywhere south would have been near impossible.

[martin_fierro]

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[NordP]

Proving something EVERY Minnesotan knows...they were just trying to get the heck out of Syberia ASAP...they were FREEZING!

[muawiyah]

Interesting how the "reverse migration" thesis (where folks already in North America move across the Berring landbridge to Siberia) can come into play to highlight the handful of serious differences available to workwith.

Whoops, these guys didn't consider the "reverse migration" thesis. Must mean these fellows don't want it to be thought that early Americans knew how to build boats.

Well, one step forward and two steps back.

[ElkGroveDan]

I’d be curious to know how they went about selecting “native” populations. Did they go deep into the mountains and amazon jungles looking for relatively untouched tribes? The native Americans in the US and Mexico are so interbred with Europeans I would imagine that it would be difficult to obtain pure “native” DNA in these regions.

[kingu]

I’ve always wondered why it is presented that one distinct population did what no one else ever did when coming to North America - that of walking, vs coastal boats or sailing like everyone else did.

Must be some huge investment in the land bridge theory that they just don’t want to let go of. Considering that you’ve got some of the richest waters for sea life off the coast, it’d take a truly dedicated hunter to chase after mammoths or whatever the excuse is this week.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They wouldn’t need to. But the study seems to greatly discount the Polynesian contribution which has a lot of reference to SA language, etc.

[ElkGroveDan]

They wouldn’t need to.

I believe they would. A whole lot of European genes would mess up this study.

[Coyoteman]

I’d be curious to know how they went about selecting “native” populations. Did they go deep into the mountains and amazon jungles looking for relatively untouched tribes? The native Americans in the US and Mexico are so interbred with Europeans I would imagine that it would be difficult to obtain pure “native” DNA in these regions.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed unchanged (except for occasional mutations) from mother to children. Mixing with Europeans would either retain the original Native American mtDNA (European male, Native American mother), or retain the European mtDNA (Native American male, European mother). There would be no intermediate mtDNA formed.

And those occasional mutations? That is what this study focused on to track the population movements.

[NordP]

And again, as a former Minnesotan, I would greatly applaud the Polynesian contribution---those that had sense enough to settle in tropical paradises ;-) NordP

[Coyoteman]

Thanks for the ping, Blam--I tried to find the original article but it must not be in the search engines yet.

This complements the Tamm et al. (2007) article that came out a couple of months ago.

[ElkGroveDan]

I understand how mitochondrial DNA works. If you are testing for external influences in a person's genetic profile, mixing in a population who had external genetic contributions 300 years ago confuses the question of whether such influences were or were not also introduced 3000 years ago.

I used Europeans as an example but what about Polynesians who may have emigrated to America in the 1700s aboard commercial ships? What if they had children with native Americans or native Mexicans in the colonial period? Testing their descendants for the influence of external DNA would be most problematic.

I believe this is a valid study, but I also believe that some sort of precautions would need to have been taken to obtain genetically pure native DNA.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They wouldn’t need to have a pure sample to find the code. For the same reason, the Welsh are found to have first appeared in what is now Hungary. It would be hard to find “purity” in any stock

[timer]

Hmmm, how does this fit in with the study of Eskimo dentition? From living Eskimos to fossil evidence, there seems to have been 3 different waves, as to teeth types/patterns, that developed in the arctic populations.

[uncbob]

Proving something EVERY Minnesotan knows...they were just trying to get the heck out of Syberia ASAP...they were FREEZING!

Couldn't figure why some stayed in Alaska The Eskimos

[NordP]

Yep, still tryin' to figure out why when the choices were being made that EVERYone didn't go as close to the Equator as possible.

Now that I'm "out" of MN...I won't live ANYwhere that palm trees don't grow. ;-)

Lovely people in cold places...but just can't live there anymore myself.

[blam]

Teeth:

Sinodonty and Sundadonty

I believe Kennewick Man has sundadont teeth.

[muawiyah]

Or, rather than the movements of whole populations, the trail of girls traded from tribe to tribe over thousands of years.

Humans trade the girls. So do our cousins the chimps.