The Mediterranean route into Europe

[Viggen]

An interesting new (open access) paper in PNAS includes some new data from Crete, the Dodecanese, Cappadocia, and several other Greek (and a few non-Greek) populations, and proposes that the Neolithic followed an island-hopping migration into Europe. This is a study on modern populations that nicely complements the recent ancient mtDNA paper from PPNB which found an affinity to Neolithic Near Eastern populations among the modern inhabitants of Cyprus and Crete.

 

...more at Dienekes

[Kosmo]

Dienekes is one of the my favorite blogs about genetic history, together with Evo and Proud http://evoandproud.blogspot.ro/  Cochran's West Hunter http://westhunt.wordpress.com/  and Razib Khan's blog at Unz Review http://www.unz.com/gnxp/

[Aurelia]

Thanks, Kosmo, for the blog suggestions, they are quite interesting. Having been born in Brazil, I come from a pretty diverse gene pool and am thinking of undergoing one of those genetic tests to see what comes up. I know for a fact that I have ancestors from all over Europe (north, south, east) but it would be interesting to delve into my personal history a bit more. And who knows, finding "hidden" genes from Africa or South America (native Americans) would be fun too! 

[caesar novus]

am thinking of undergoing one of those genetic tests to see what comes up.

Kosmo can correct me, but I think females entirely lack the y-group chromosomes that they use to track the male half of your family tree. Males carry clones of both the fathers y-group and mothers mitochondrial genes. So it may help to get a male relative tested for the y-group. I recall the national geographic tests being done in halves at half price for this. Or pursuade a male relative to get the whole test, or give it as a present (if you are sure they are related).

 

These are not the normal functional genes that are discussed in the blogs, but strange useless ones that are much easier to track heritage from since they don't mix but are cloned. Another issue (if I am correct) is that these totally ignore the vast majority of your family tree... only applying to your fathers-fathers-fathers... or mothers-mothers-mothers individual at each generation.

 

Furthermore they track specific mutations that often happened so many tens of thousands of years ago (they can usually estimate when your markers developed) that these proto groups were hiding behind a glacier in turkey somewhere long before they split up to arrive in Finland, Portugal or whatever. An old marker is disappointing because it tells you so little and for such a vanishing small sample of your family tree. For an old marker they will tell you that groups over half the world have it, yet that migration happened AFTER the mutation and your ancestors never went or came from there.

 

P.S. I expect we all originate not from Africa, but Ile Amsterdam. This is because there are no genetic markers showing aborigines migrating thru Asia to Australia. Therefore, I have made an imperial deduction that mankind started in this island in the southern Indian ocean and caught passing icebergs to Africa and equadistant Australia!

 

 

[Aurelia]

Yes, I'm aware of of the Y-chromosome issue. I was actually thinking of inviting my brother to do it with me.    However, I'm also aware that it is possible to trace my maternal line through mitochondrial DNA. My father's side of the family is pretty well documented anyway so I'd be interested in finding out more about my mother's side. 

 

I'm also interested in ethnicity, especially in a country like Brazil which is pretty (racially) mixed. When I mentioned possible "hidden" African or native American genes, I was of course referring to more recent ancestors rather than pre-historic ones. We just never know what secrets may be lurking in our family tree.   

[caesar novus]

Oh, you sound like my heroine Astrud Gilberto. Her web page said that her bossa nova was considered a bit inauthentic back home in Brazil, because her father wasn't the local mixed blend. Actually there may be some cultural rather than DNA truth to that since I think her dad was a German music teacher. And she complains about a famous but unpleasant Russian-American musician who I think brought out her best work... these synthesized influences maybe allowed her to elevate b-n to world acceptance.

 

Anyway, I have a gripe about my mit. dna tests, and will try a thought experiment of Astrud dealing with the same thing. First I will admit that my tests were a decade ago, and before the company recently went defunct they would offer ever changing interpretations on a web site. BTW they included health predictions which turned out to be changing and inaccurate, except for guesses of my physical properties which were right.

 

I have 647 years (!)  of marriage or birth records for both sides of family, and they matched their paternal prediction. Actually this company specialized in the almost inbred background of our region because lack of global mixing simplifies analysis for predicting how you will die for instance. The maternal prediction was weird, and got weirder in later "refinements" which practically included the whole world. At first it they highlighted Corsica and a maybe bit of Latvia, which oddly enough were distant targets of our raiding parties about 900 years ago and might suggest a war bride.

 

So I tried to educate myself on how to interpret mit. DNA, and will try to apply possibly fractured logic to a case such as Astrud. I would love to be corrected though. Look at her 4 great grandmothers... only one should show up in cloned mit. dna. Not her 2 German g-g-m. Say the other 2 are respectively from Asia-> native American, and more recently Africa. Only the mothers-mothers side shows up in the mit. dna... say it is an african mutation from 40k years ago.

 

So all other influences are flushed from mit. dna except the direct mother daughter path from long ago africa back to genetic eve.  IF the test shows other locations (I bet it would) these must be where close relatives migrated AFTER 40k years ago from Africa to India or Andorra for instance. Therefore further diversity they show isn't the incoming genetic influences but the later (and irrelevant) diversions by others.

 

IF we were tracking the native American ggm there should be some diversity reflecting the path out of Africa thru Asia. But only what that mother-daughter chain experienced as personal mutations passed on. At first this seems an ultra tiny sample of your backwards-spreading family tree, but something strange happens when that tree has to shrink down and mix to get back to one Eve. Not a religious Eve, but there is point where the first mutation happens which is like the last exact clone of Eve (which happens maybe a couple thousand years distant from last clone of Adam, oddly enough).

Edited June 15, 2014 by caesar novus

[Aurelia]

Wow, 647 years! I guess I don't need to ask if you are interested in genealogy!

 

Yes, you're right, the results of a DNA test will only include a tiny fraction of my family tree, which is a shame. But I think I'll do it anyway at some point just for the fun of it. I'm not expecting it to be the ultimate answer to everything but I'm curious to have even a glimpse into my genetic past. 

 

P.S. I like Astrud Gilberto too although I think her voice tends to be a bit too monotone. I prefer other female singers like Elis Regina (her contemporary) and even Bebel Gilberto (daughter of Astrud's ex-husband João Gilberto). 

[caesar novus]

Actually there is a lot of DNA info hidden in our relatives that is about to be lost, and maybe we should take and preserve mouth swabs at the next family reunion. For those like us who want more info on the mothers side, I think we can triple our info by targeting the maternal grandfather (his m+f  flags). If he is gone, one can look for his other descendants, or back up to descendants of his ancestors... just use the weird logic of the way male and female flags are passed down. Also the mito. dna of one's father can add a lot. Sealed, frozen swabs might let one run the tests years later when they are cheaper and smarter.

 

I have no obsession with this... I just inherited family tree research notes that was easily collected by ancestors who traveled back to the home country. It seemed to conflict with the DNA test info, but probably not in light of current dna test limitations. My family tree is 10 years shorter than I stated, but still amazingly provincial, ending only at the time the plague probably stopped people keeping records. Even 150 years after leaving the home country, marriage has apparently only been with folks originating from that country. So the Corsican war bride or whatever that dna test suggests may have been an important defense against recessive genes

 

Thanks for the alternative Brazilian singer suggestions; thru the internet I have overdosed on Astrud (and Ella F) after hearing their complete works over and over. However I do appreciate the way Astrud kind of  murmurs lyrics to herself instead of the brash way singers usually do, and also she pronounces vowels the way most english speakers only have heard from their mothers early, fond babytalk. For variety I had made a spotify playlist of 1200 Chet Baker songs, who sounds quite like some of the best female jazz singers for some reason.