Comments on: Tutsi genetics, ii

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:04:16 +0000

re: tishkoff vs. this. remember that they used 1,200 markers. since some of ‘em very mutable microsatellites that’s way more variance capture than a similar number of SNPs, but still, it isn’t like 200,000 or 400,000 SNPs that i’m using here. BUT, their geographical coverage is WAY better than mine. you have to balance these sorts of issues….

By: Eze

Eze — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:40:23 +0000

I see, they do live close to the Cushitic speaking Iraqw, so that might explain it. Also, Tishkoff’s structure results aren’t exactly the same as these here. It would have been nice if Datoga and Iraqw SNP genotypes were available, they could answer some questions on the origins of the Tutsi.

By: unknown

unknown — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:08:48 +0000

^ According to Tishkoff et al. 2009 the Dotag didn’t possess significant enough Nilo-Saharan to be considered “intermediate”. They were roughly around 60-65% Cushitic, with both Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Kordofanian admixture at about 10-15%; they also possessed very little of the Sandawe component. Phenotypically they do resemble the Tutsi, but even then they resemble Horners more so than they do “pure” Nilotic speakers from Southern Sudan.

By: Eze

Eze — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:23:40 +0000

Great job! Thanks for taking the time to do this. It does look like that the Tutsi have a ‘Cushitic’ component. However, I think this was likely introduced through an intermediate Nilo-Hamitic group similar to the Datoga, the elevated ‘Sandawe’ might hint to this.