The Genographic Project

[cilu]

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Genographic Project, bu this is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken, that will reveal us the greatest story ever told: the migration of man on earth back to the common origin.

Let me fill you in with some insights, so that perhaps, we can discus about it.

Humans have 46 chromosomes, in 23 pairs. Two of the chromosomes are sexual chromosomes called X and Y. Women have 2 X chromosomes and man have a X and a Y. Ovules carry a X chromosome and sperm either X or Y. A pair of XX will create a female, a pair of XY will create a male. Thus, the Y chromosome is transmited from father to son (only) unaltered. Just as the way the Y chromosome is passed unaltered from father to son, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed unaltered from mother to daugther. However, once in a while a mutation appears. When this mutation is transmited to descendants it becomes a marker. Studying the markers geneticists can identify family relations.

The Genographic Project will collect DNA samples from 100,000 men around the globe (anyone can donate DNA samples, you just have to order a kit). Analizing the markers of the Y chormosomes they will identify relations of the groups of population and corelating the data with info from other fields such as archeology, antropology, linguistics, etc. will create a map of the migrations of populations back to the origins.

Last evening, NG channel broadcasted a documentary about the project and the conclusions they drew so far. It seems that all men that live today, bear this marker in the Y chromosome, that dates back to 60,000 years ago. In other words, all the men that live today were fathered by one single male, a scientific Adam, that lived somewhere in Africa in the area of the Great Rift (Kenya or Tanzania). Of course, there were other men that lived in that time, but their genealogy perished. It's interesting how genetics has recreated the story of Adam (present in many religions around the world).

Here are recent news from the latest NG Magazine edition.

PS: the official site of the project (you have the link at the beginning) offers some interesting information.

Also there in an interesting site called GeneBase.