Comments on: European man of many faces: Cain vs. Abel

By: The flux of genes on the South Seas | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:29:51 +0000

[...] rather simple. Yet the expansion and retreat of various demes in post-Ice Age Europe seems to be far more complex than had previously been assumed, though I suspect part of the rationale for the original [...]

By: Zohar

Zohar — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:21:06 +0000

Are European Jewish populations factored in anywhere here, or excluded?

By: Francisco Zamarripa

Francisco Zamarripa — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:45:51 +0000

I am interested in the connection betrween the Prehistoric Peoples of Tunisia and near regions of Africa as they may have become the Basques, French, Sicilians, and perhaps the peoples of the North frigid areas (Norway).

I am entertaining the concept that the names of ancient people may be a clue to modern names, such as the Basque name of Zamarripa, comming from the ancient city of Zama in North Africa where Hannibal suffered his final defeat at the hand of the Romans. Can this be researched using genotypes to arrive at a believable conclusion?

By: TGGP

TGGP — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:25:54 +0000

Andrew Gelman is not a big fan of parsimony in models. All and sundry are invited to give a yea or nay here.

By: Peter Frost

Peter Frost — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:58:49 +0000

A big assumption here is that mtDNA is not influenced by natural selection, in particular by the differences in selection pressure between hunter-fisher-gatherers and farmers.

Some mtDNA haplogroups seem to reflect a tradeoff between thermogenesis and ATP synthesis (Balloux et al 2009). If true, the genetic change from late hunter-fisher-gatherers to early farmers may reflect the differences in physical activity (leading to overheating or underheating) that exist between these two modes of subsistence.

This isn’t idle speculation. One mtDNA ‘signature’ of European hunter-fisher-gatherers is haplogroup U. In Denmark, Melchior et al. (2010) found that high incidences of haplogroup U persisted among the earliest farmers and declined only in later groups.

Thus, the sharp genetic divide was not between late hunter-fisher-gatherers and early farmers. It seems to have been between the earliest farmers and groups that had been farming for at least a millennium or so.

References

Balloux F., L.J. Handley, T. Jombart, H. Liu, and A. Manica (2009). Climate shaped the worldwide distribution of human mitochondrial DNA sequence variation. Proceedings. Biological Sciences, 276 (1672), 3447–55.

Melchior, L., N. Lynnerup, H.R. Siegismund, T. Kivisild, J. Dissing. (2010). Genetic diversity among ancient Nordic populations, PLoS ONE 5(7): e11898.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011898

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:32:59 +0000

two areas conquered 1,000 years ago by peoples originally from Transoxiana or the Tarim Basin. How are studies like this possible when the genetic character of a population has been changed a dozen times through conquest and migration?

that change you allude to has been minor. please see slide 4:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/11/what-intra-inter-population-genetic-variance-tells-us/

By: T. Greer

T. Greer — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:21:21 +0000

Razib-

A (probably stupid) question.

What utility is there in comparing LBK gene sets to modern (non-isolated) populations? Both maps suggest that LBK genes are most similar to those living in Anatolia and Mesopotamia – two areas conquered 1,000 years ago by peoples originally from Transoxiana or the Tarim Basin. How are studies like this possible when the genetic character of a population has been changed a dozen times through conquest and migration?

By: The Infidel

The Infidel — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:35:14 +0000

This is clearly a mistake because the Muslims claim God only created the World 4,500 years ago. So according to Islam these people could not have existed because the World was not created at that time. Well if your right then Islam is based on LIES.

By: Tweets that mention European man of many faces: Cain vs. Abel | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:08:26 +0000

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