As of the end of November, the Personal Genome Project has a newly-designed and user-friendly website. Compare the OLD site and the NEW site - what an improvement! Misha Angrist, aka genomeboy.com and one of the “First 10″ aptly called the site “PGP 2.0″.
The new site is extremely well organized and […]
PLoS Genetics has a new paper (PLoS Genet 3(11): e185. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030185) that examines autosomal microsatellite markers (repeating units of base pairs) from Native American DNA:
“We examined genetic diversity and population structure in the American landmass using 678 autosomal microsatellite markers genotyped in 422 individuals representing 24 Native American populations sampled from North, Central, and […]
Forty advanced placement science students at Soldan International High School in St. Louis have submitted their DNA for testing with the National Geographic Society’s Genographic project. An article in the St. Louis-Post Dispatch highlights some of the statements made by the students and faculty:
“Many times students don’t see the relevance of what […]
Update: Ugo Perego is not affiliated withh the website mentioned in the last two sentences.
Did Joseph Smith father children with any of his plural wives? The Deseret News has a lengthy article about recent efforts by a geneticist to answer the long-debated question about the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Ugo Perego, […]
Genome Technology Online mentioned the new partnership between DNAPrint Genomics, Inc. and BioServe, a company that offers “the Global Repository®, a growing library of over 600,000 human DNA, tissue and serum samples linked to detailed clinical and demographic data from 140,000 consented and anonymized patients from four continents.”
As part of the partnership, DNAPrint will […]
I’ve spoken before about the enormous effect that affordable SNP and whole-genome sequencing will have on genetic genealogy. In that previous article, I mentioned a study using SNP analysis to identify a person’s ancestry based on autosomal DNA (all the nuclear non-sex DNA). Another study, released today in PLoS Genetics, used SNP […]
It’s always been my belief that personal genetics (inexpensive whole-genome analysis) will bring about some exciting changes in the field of genetic genealogy. One of the biggest areas of change will undoubtedly be in the area of autosomal genetic testing. (Remember that autosomal testing examines nuclear DNA, which is DNA other than mtDNA, […]
A study in the September Journal of Field Archaeology analyzes mtDNA that was isolated from Native American aprons and from quids - chewed plant material. From an article in science:
“The quids and aprons belonged to a vanished tribe that archaeologists call the Western Basketmakers. Between about 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E., they lived in […]
Yesterday I wrote about a study that used SNPs to haplotype the Y chromosomes of ancient DNA obtained from skeletons found along the Yangtze River in China. The ability to extract and use SNP data from ancient Y-DNA is a relatively new scientific development. Indeed, the author’s of the study I highlighted yesterday […]
In the past, scientists have primarily examined the mtDNA of ancient DNA. After all, mtDNA is much more prevalent (100’s to 1000’s of copies per cell) than nuclear DNA (just 1 copy per cell) and thus it is easier to find samples that are not degraded by time. New amplification techniques as […]
A recent study (epub ahead of print) published in Human Heredity examines the Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups of 120 black males from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Approximately four million Africans were taken as slaves to Brazil where they interbred extensively with Amerindians and Europeans. Previous studies from this […]
Here they are, the “First 10″, the first ten volunteers of the Personal Genome Project, announced today:
Misha Angrist, Ph.D. is Senior Science Editor at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy in Durham, N.C. His work has appeared in The Michigan Quarterly Review and the Best New American Voices anthology, among […]
There’s a great recent article in Scientific American entitled “What Finnish Grandmothers Reveal about Human Evolution” highlighting the research of biologist Virpi Lummaa. I’ve mentioned before that while genetics is a useful tool for genealogical research, genealogy can also be a useful tool for genetic research! Dr. Lummaa’s research does exactly that.
Dr. Lummaa […]
Esther Dyson is a prominent force in the digital world, and is considered to be a member of the ‘digerati’ (a term for people who are the movers and shakers of everything technological). She is the daughter of the famous physicist Freeman Dyson and the mathematician Verana Huber-Dyson.
According to Wikipedia, the […]
Some interesting posts about DNA and/or genetic genealogy in the blogosphere:
Hsien at EyeonDNA posted about genetic genealogy in the Middle East: “Eastern Biotech & Life Sciences in Dubai have signed an agreement to be part of the Genographic Project via Family Tree DNA. They plan to create a database for the Middle Eastern population.”
ScienceRoll […]
Dr. Mark A. Jobling at the University of Leicester published a study in 2005 that examined DYS464, a Y-DNA marker commonly sequenced for genetic genealogical purposes. As it turns out, sequencing DYS464 can inadvertently detect an AZFc deletion. Deletion of AZFc (azoospermia factor c) causes spermatogenic failure and subsequently, male infertility. This […]
My great-grandmother belongs to Haplogroup H, and I always feel a little bad for her. Not that I have anything against Haplgroup H’ers, but they got the short end of the stick. You see, currently all mtDNA sequences are compared to the Revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS), an mtDNA sequenced derived in the […]
A recent paper in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology examined mtDNA extracted from the hair and nails of eight Inuit mummies. These essentially freeze-dried mummies were discovered in 1972 in a natural tomb at Qilakitsoq in the Uummannaq Municipality of Greenland. Using C14 analysis, the mummies have been dated to approximately […]
The BBC has an article about genetic genealogy testing of nine celebrities in Brazil for a project called Afro-Brazilian Roots by the Brazilian Service of the BBC. These lucky individuals received Y-DNA, mtDNA, and autosomal testing, and most were surprised with the large proportion of European genealogy revealed by the tests.
“Brazil has […]
The Genographic Project is probably the largest genetic genealogy project in the world. For $99, the project will sequence seqments of either your mtDNA or your Y chromosome for addition into their publicly available database. The goal of the project, with ten research centers around the world, is to “map humanity’s genetic […]
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