posted 18 July 2005 07:24 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Super car:It is interesting that the folks who did these tests, weren't able to determine sequence changes of the bases analyzed, which would have been specific to a given population.
Do you mean something different than the 15 changes/mutations that I listed?
I also heard a about the D-loop [from a Rick Kittles article] of the mtDNA, and how it also assists in pin-pointing a given population, from which the contribution came; though, I am not sure how this correlates with the control region of the mtDNA. It is true that L1a is pretty common throughout Africa, particularly in East, Central and Southeastern Africa, and very much less so, in North, West, Southern Africa; L1a1a has a predominantly East and Southeastern African distribution, the likely places of its origin. . [/B]

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posted 18 July 2005 09:23 PM            

quote:

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celkmarshall:
Do you mean something different than the 15 changes/mutations that I listed?

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I am sorry, my eyes initially missed this question, because of the way it was hidden within a quote of mine you were responding to. If these had anything to do with sequences found in the control region, then yes, the question would be, why they weren't able to trace the genetic contribution to particular population.

posted 24 July 2005 02:07 PM            

Again base

quote:

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Originally posted by TooInvolved:
Where did you get these tests done? I'd like to do so also. Could you please provide any infrmation you have for one who'd like to also do this? Thanks.

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posted 24 July 2005 02:56 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by celkmarshall:
Females do not carry the y chromesome.

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posted 25 July 2005 07:41 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Super car:
Funny you mention that, because at least some 'one' thinks that they do. 'It' even showed us mail order bride photos to demonstrate this as a 'scientific' reality. LOL.

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People who actually win debates (like I do) don't need to set up lame straw men to knock down (like you do).

quote:

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Originally posted by Some Dumb Ape:

Women do not carry Y chromosome.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Evil Euro:

But they have fathers, who pass racial traits on to them. Stupid negro.

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posted 25 July 2005 08:39 AM            

The Color Line
Features of Today’s Endogamous Color Line
The Invention of the Color Line: 1691
How the Law Decided if You Were Black or White: The Early 1800s
Barbadian South Carolina: A Class-Based Color Line
Antebellum Louisiana and Alabama: Two Color Lines, Three Endogamous Groups
No Color Line in Spanish Florida

The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North (due out August 2005)

The One-Drop Rule
Features of Today’s One-Drop Rule
The Invention of the One-Drop Rule in the 1830s North
The Antebellum South Rejects the One-Drop Rule
Jim Crow Triumph of the One-Drop Rule

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The Heredity of “Racial” Traits
Essays on the Color Line and the One-Drop Rule
by Frank W Sweet
December 15, 2004
“Because they look different,” explained the State Park Service historian in charge of living history at Olustee, Florida. She was answering an ethnic acculturation question. Why has almost every non-White immigrant group in U.S. history—Irish, Jews, even Chinese in Jim Crow Mississippi—been embraced by America’s ever-expanding blanket of Whiteness and joined the mainstream via intermarriage within a few generations, while African-Americans remain non-White?1 The irony in the historian’s answer could be seen in the four children playing in the grass nearby—two apparently members of the Black endogamous group and two apparently White.
Every February, the Florida Park Service hosts a Civil War reenactment at Olustee. The real battle, fought in February 1864, comprised about five thousand Union attackers and the same number of Confederate defenders. The reenacted battle is choreographed to replicate actual events. Over a hundred Black re-enactors from Charleston play the role of the famed 54th Massachusetts. Thousands of other Civil War re-enactors from throughout the Southeast come to portray the other Union and Confederate regiments involved. The event attracts thousands of spectators. Some come for the day to cheer one side or the other, but most are families who bring their children to learn about a dramatic event in the state’s past.

In recent years, the local NAACP chapter has picketed the event as a painful reminder of slavery. In response, Black volunteers involved in the production have increased the number of living history presentations and dioramas by Black History groups, who lecture on the African-American heroes and heroines of abolition and the war. It is a family event for the living history interpreters as well, and the volunteers bring their own children, dressed out in the Alice-in-Wonderland childhood fashions of the 1860s.

One pair of living history presenters are of first-generation mixed heritage. He has one Black parent and one White parent, and so does she. Both display the in-between appearance of, say, Jennifer Beals or Gary Dourdan of the CSI TV show. Technically speaking, both are heterozygotic at each of the three-to-six genes for dermal melanization. But their four children could be used to exemplify Mendel’s wrinkled peas and smooth peas without the in-between peas. The two oldest kids are quite dark, taking after their Black grandparents (homozygotic for African skin tone). The two youngest are European-looking, taking after their White grandparents (homozygotic for European skin tone). The standing family joke (which outsiders endure stoically despite having heard it many times) is that the two older children used up all of the family melanin, leaving none for their younger siblings. The parents identify the family as part of the Black community. Nevertheless, the two European-looking children will probably switch to self-identifying as Hispanic or even White after high school. There is little to be gained in today’s America, for a young person who looks European, by voluntarily remaining a member of the Black endogamous group.

* * * * *

This essay explains, in four topics, that much is known about the heredity of those physical features important to U.S. society in assigning someone to one side or the other of the endogamous color line. Three-to-Six Co-Dominant Skin Tone Genes discusses the genes that determine skin tone. Mendelian Inheritance explains that, on average, half of the children of admixed parents inherit a skin tone between those of their parents, one fourth come out darker than both parents, and one-fourth come out lighter than both. This means that any Afro-European admixed population will not blend homogeneously after many generations, but will continue to produce a few African-looking and European-looking individuals indefinitely. Appearance is not the Same Thing as Ancestry explains that, in admixed populations, even people who share identical ancestry may wind up with different Afro-European admixtures due to the random recombination of parental genes at each generation. This is why about five percent of the African-American population has no detectable African genetic admixture. Finally, Hardy-Weinberg Distribution shows how to compute the rate at which European-looking children are born into various Black communities in the United States, and the rate at which African-looking children are born into European-looking populations in other countries.

Three-to-Six Co-Dominant Skin Tone Genes
Some people erroneously assume that physical traits associated with the U.S. endogamous color line “blend” in some non-Mendelian way. They assume that children cannot come out looking more European than both parents nor more African than both. They assume that endogamous populations become ever more homogeneously blended with the passage of generations. And they assume that any given New World resident of mixed Afro-European appearance must descend from colonists who were themselves of one hundred percent European or one hundred percent African genetic admixture.2 All of these assumptions are mistaken.3

Parents of mixed intermediate Afro-European genetic admixture can, and often do, produce strongly European-looking or African-looking children. To be precise, there is a 1/2 probability that any given child of two genetically admixed parents will display color-line-related features midway between those of the parents, 1/4 probability that it will look more European than either parent, and 1/4 probability that it will look more African than either parent. Furthermore, most Americans of intermediate Afro-European admixture are not first-generation dual-heritage individuals. Instead, most spring from parents who are also of Afro-European genetic admixture. In fact, many of the New World’s alleles for European features came to this hemisphere within the bodies of African slaves, whose ancestors had mingled with Arabs, Berbers, and Mediterranean Europeans for centuries. And many of the alleles for African features came to the Americas within the bodies of European Mediterranean colonists, whose ancestors had mingled with Arabs, Berbers, and Africans for centuries. The Mediterranean has been a genetic mixing bowl for tens of thousands of years.

None of this has anything to do with “race,” as many use the term, since what non-scientists mean by “race” is hard to pin down. Americans tend to think of Africans, Europeans, and Asians as different “races.” But nobody else sees it this way. Japanese, Australian Aborigines, Tahitians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, Turks, and Israelis are all Asians, for example, but no one of them would consider themselves to be of the same “race” as any of the others. Even the obsolescent craniofacial anthropometry of the past does not match preconceptions of “race.” Carleton S. Coon, the greatest race-defining craniofacial anthropometrist of the twentieth century, whose definitions filled the U.S. textbooks of fifty years ago, considered neither Ethiopians nor Khoisan to be of the “negroid race.”4 Rather than “race,” this discussion is interested only in those physical traits that lead U.S. society to assign a person to one side or the other of the endogamous color line—to consider a person a suitable marriage partner for Whites or Blacks.

Understanding the heredity of physical traits associated with the endogamous color line can help us better to grasp how genes leaked through the barrier as much as they have (one third of White Americans having 2-20 percent African genetic admixture). But a difficulty in discussing heredity is the indeterminacy of just which features are associated with the color line. We know that people who “look African” are usually assigned to the Black endogamous group by U.S. society. But precisely what does it mean to say that someone “looks African”? As explained in the essay “The Perception of ‘Racial’ Traits,” the features associated with African ancestry depend upon which society is making the determination. As Harry Hoetink pointed out, the very same individual may be considered White in Puerto Rico, Coloured in Jamaica, and Negro in Georgia.5 Modern craniofacial anthropometrists (forensic anthropologists) give more importance to prognathism than to skin tone,6 and nineteenth-century Americans once emphasized foot shape.7 Consequently, the following discussion of heritability simplifies such traits to a single feature—skin tone.

Throughout the following discussion, three things should be kept in mind. First, many societies (Hindu India, for example) do not consider skin tone to be associated with any endogamous barrier. This discussion focuses on skin tone because most Americans consider it significant, hence the term “color line” and the group labels “Black” and “White” corresponding to brown versus pinkish beige skin tone. Second, melanization is mechanically complex. Some people are darker than others before tanning, some tan more easily, some tan more deeply, and some tans last longer than others. Despite its complexity, dermal melanization depends on just a few genes. Finally, the following discussion could be repeated for any feature that depends on a handful of additive genes, each with co-dominant alleles, such as hair curliness, nose width, lip thickness, prognathism, steatopygia, and the like. Hence, it applies to any of the physical traits that U.S. society associates with membership in the Black or White endogamous groups.

Alleles do not blend. They are not analog recordings. They are digitally encoded (the human genome contains about 750 megabytes of data).8 Because they are digitally encoded, alleles combine in simple, mathematically predictable ways. Since 1910, researchers have known that human skin pigmentation is polygenic, depending on just a few codominant additive genes of essentially two alleles each. We have known that skin tone is polygenic, rather than the result of one gene with many alleles, because breeding of palest with darkest yields a spectrum of offspring genotypes from the same parents, not just the four Mendelian ones. We have known that human pigmentation genes are additive and codominant because half the offspring of differently colored parents have a skin tone between that of their parents, no matter how similar the parents (one-fourth are outside each extreme of the parental span). We have known that at least three genes are involved because histograms of population skin reflectance yield continuous, not discrete, values.9

Where knowledge has improved over the past century has been in precisely how many genes are involved and their specific loci. As of 1998, five human pigmentation genes had been identified. Their symbols and genome loci are: “TYR” at 11q14-21 (chromosome eleven long arm, 14 to 21 centimorgans out), “TYRP1” at 9p23, “TYRP2” at 13q31-32, “P” at 15q11.2-12, and “MC1R” at 16q24.3.10 Subsequent work has identified five non-synonymous polymorphisms at the MC1R site.11 Some polymorphisms have been related to phenotype.12 And gene-enzyme-protein reaction chains have been identified.13

Much of the genetic mechanism remains to be unraveled but one finding is pertinent here. Skin color is determined by a (definite) minimum of three and a (probable) maximum of six additive genes, each with two co-dominant alleles. This means that skin-tone inheritance is predictable. Imagine a population composed of two same-sized groups. The first group comprises individuals who (like many sub-Saharan Africans) are homozygotic for dark alleles at all of the (three to six) dermal melanization loci. The other group comprises individuals who (like Nordic Europeans) are homozygotic for fair alleles at the same loci. Given random mating within the population composed of the two equal-sized groups, within a few generations the resultant population would fall into a Poisson skin-tone distribution.14

Mendelian Inheritance
In other words, if a large population (more than a few thousands individuals) were assembled out of equal numbers of the darkest and the fairest humans on earth, within a few generations, their descendants’ skin tone would fall into a normal (Gaussian bell-curve) distribution. The number of genes involved would not affect the form of the distribution. If skin tone were determined by only three genes, then the resultant population would fall into the seventh line of Pascal’s triangle with, on average, 1, 6, 15, 20, 15, 6, and 1 out of every 64 individuals having each skin-tone gradation, from the fairest to the darkest possible. If skin tone were set by six genes, then the descendants would fall into the thirteenth line of Pascal’s triangle with, on average, 1, 12, 66, 220, 495, 792, 924, 792, 495, 220, 66, 12, and 1 out of every 4096 individuals having every skin-tone gradation from the fairest to the darkest. Neither the shape, the height, nor the width of the consequent distribution would vary with number of genes. The number of genes involved would affect only the fineness of the skin-tone gradations.

The above explanation may seem trivial, but it is important to understanding U.S. color line permeability. It is important because exactly the same results would unfold if one were to start with a homogeneous population where every individual were heterozygotic at each locus. In other words, if you started with a population of first-generation admixture (each with a fair-skin allele from one parent, and a dark-skin allele from the other parent, at each of the three-to-six genes), then their descendants would fall into precisely the same pattern as above, with precisely the same numbers of individuals having every skin-tone gradation from the very fairest to the darkest possible.15

Puerto Rico Skin-Tone Histogram As a practical example, consider Puerto Rico. From the late eighteenth century until the U.S. conquest at the turn of the twentieth century, Spanish censuses of the island consistently reported that 45 percent of the population was White (predominantly European-looking) and 55 percent was Black (predominantly African-looking). Census after census, these numbers did not change more than three percentage points until the United States took possession of the island.16 Today, the native-born island population physically matches the theoretical Poisson distribution almost precisely. About one Puerto Rican in ten looks White to the typical American, about one in ten looks Black, and the rest look “Hispanic,” which in this context means “in between.”17

Appearance is not the Same Thing as Ancestry
To be precise, the above figure shows that a skin-tone histogram of Puerto Ricans has a single peak at the 50-50 mark with population fractions diminishing in both directions—dark and light.18 Nevertheless, judging by the Spanish census data and considering that the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 cut off immigration, virtually every native-born Puerto Rican on the island today has equal numbers of African and European ancestors.19 This means that those few Puerto Ricans who are of predominantly European appearance as well as those who are of predominantly African appearance descend from the same population of ancestors. The figure above depicts a computer simulation of this result.20 This point bears repeating. Those few Puerto Ricans of European appearance whose families have been on the island since colonial tines have equal numbers of African and European ancestors, as do those Puerto Ricans of strongly African appearance. In short, skin tone is so ephemeral and so sensitive to a few genes, that it is nearly useless as an indicator of either Afro-European ancestry or Afro-European genetic admixture (which are themselves different things). As another example of this point, a recent admixture study conducted in Columbia, South Carolina, found that about five percent of Black Americans have no detectable African genetic admixture at all.21 Their family oral histories accurately trace their descent partly from African slaves. But over the course of many generations, even the negligible intermarriage rate between Whites and Blacks gradually eliminated the genetic markers of African origin from those few families by random chance.

Hardy-Weinberg Distribution
Once a population’s genotype stabilizes into a Poisson bell curve, it will remain in that configuration as long as the conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium hold and mating is random. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is not discussed at depth in this essay.22 It suffices to point out that where a closed population is large enough to avoid loss or fixing of alleles by mere chance (termed drift), and where no selection mechanism operates on the genes of interest (affecting either survival, reproduction, or mate selection), then the percentages of alleles (fifty-fifty in the above example) within a population will remain unchanged indefinitely.23

In the context of this discussion, absence of mate selection implies random mating with regards to skin tone, which may seem inapplicable to this study. After all, in contrast to Puerto Rico, the defining feature of the U.S. color line is that it marks an endogamous barrier. But the point here is that the U.S. Black community can itself be defined as a closed population precisely because it is endogamous. Whether mate-selection within this group depends on skin tone is an interesting question. Many anthropologists of the 1920s and 1930s reported detecting a Black male mate-selection preference for fair women. Melville J. Herskovitz, Gunnar Myrdal, Edward Reuter, Ralph Linton, Gustavas Steward, and Robert E. Park referred to it.24 But these finding were eventually overturned because they were based on skin-tone differences between husbands and wives. As it turns out, studies of siblings show that females typically display less melanization than males,25 just as children display less melanization than adults.26 It is simply one of the neotenous features associated with human sexual dimorphism.27 In any event, it is now accepted that, within the U.S. Black community, mating has been essentially random for skin tone.

Gullah Skin-Tone Histogram How Many White Children are Born Into Black Families?
The occurrence frequency of European admixture (implying alleles for fair skin tone) among members of the U.S. Black community varies by region, from around 3 percent among the Geechee/Gullah people of the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, to about 20 percent among the African-Americans of Philadelphia and Boston.28 Given these numbers, it is a straightforward task to compute the rate at which any given African-American population will produce members who are as fair as Europeans.29

Black Philadelphia Skin-Tone Histogram Various sources agree that, on average, people with 12 percent or less African admixture appear White to the average American and those with up to 25 percent look ambiguous (with a Mediterranean skin tone).30 Given this finding, random chance will produce one such Philadelphian out of every five hundred born to parents who are members of the Black community (rare, but measurable), and one such Gullah out of every 1.4 billion (virtually impossible).31 (In the accompanying graphs, only the two leftmost bars depict the numbers of people with European skin tone.)

How Many Black Children are Born into White Families?

White America Skin-Tone Histogram The mirror-image situation is also easily computed. African admixture averages about 0.7 percent among White Americans, about 8 percent in Portugal, and about 5 percent in Spain, based upon recent genetic admixture studies as well as upon accepted estimates of sixteenth-century sub-Saharan immigration to Iberia.32 Hence, typical White Americans cannot produce children with unambiguously dark skin but it occurs among Spaniards at the rate of about one in two hundred.33

Iberia Skin-Tone Histogram This explains why modern-day Chileans and Argentineans, as well as Spaniards, look White to Americans, despite having recently absorbed large African populations.34 Alleles for African appearance are so thinly distributed throughout these predominantly European populations that the genes seldom happen to match up in any one individual.

As explained above, the same can be said for any trait associated with the U.S. endogamous color line. In short, even without taking into account a steady inflow of genes for European appearance, the Black community has always produced a steady and predictable stream of European-looking individuals whose immediate parentage is socially Black. They owe their European phenotype to the random matching up of genes from distant European ancestors. Of course, counting how many people are born with European appearance measures opportunity, not action. There is no reason to think that all or even most such Americans actually cross the color line and designate themselves White.35

* * * * *

This essay described the heredity of skin tone, the most important of the physical features used by U.S. society in assigning someone to one side or the other of the endogamous color line. It listed the genes that determine skin tone. It explained that any Afro-European admixed population (such as the African-American community) will never blend homogeneously, but will continue to produce a few European-looking individuals indefinitely. It showed that even people who share identical ancestry may wind up with different Afro-European admixtures due to the random recombination of parental genes at each generation. Finally, it demonstrated how to compute the rate at which European-looking children are born into the African-American community.

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Frank W. Sweet was accepted to Ph.D. candidacy in history with a minor in molecular anthropology at the University of Florida in 2003 and has completed all but his dissertation defense. He earned an M.A. in History from American Military University in 2001. He is the author of several historical booklets, trade paperbacks, and published historical essays. He was a member of the editorial board of the magazine Interracial Voice, is a regular lecturer and panelist at historical and genealogical conferences, and moderates an online discussion group on the history of U.S. racialism (the “race” notion) sponsored by Backintyme Publishing. To discuss this item with the author, visit the OneDropRule discussion group. To send email, click here.

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1. Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White (New York: Routledge, 1995); Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University, 1998); James W. Loewen, The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White (Cambridge MA: Harvard University, 1971).

2. See, for example, Ira Berlin, Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (New York: New Free Press, 1974), 108-9; Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1992) as quoted in Virginia Meacham Gould, “The Free Creoles of Color of the Antebellum Gulf Ports of Mobile and Pensacola: A Struggle for the Middle Ground,” in Creoles of Color of the Gulf South, ed. James H. Dormon (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1996), 28-50, 32; Jane G. Landers, ed. Against the Odds: Free Blacks in the Slave Societies of the Americas (London: Frank Cass, 1996), 86; Frederick P. Bowser, “The Free Person of Color in Mexico City and Lima: Manumission and Opportunity, 1580-1650,” in Race and Slavery in the Western Hemisphere: Quantitative Studies, ed. Stanley L. Engerman, et al. (Princeton: Princeton University, 1975), 331-361, 333.

3. See, for example, the extended critique of Ira Berlin, Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (New York: New Free Press, 1974) in Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1977), xv-xvi.

4. See Carleton Stevens Coon, The Origin of Races (New York: Knopf, 1962).

5. Harry Hoetink, Caribbean Race Relations: A Study of Two Variants (London: Oxford University, 1971), xii.

6. George W. Gill, “Does Race Exist?: A Proponent’s Perspective,” [web page] (Nova, 2000), available from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/gill.html.

7. 23 Ark. 50.

8. Three billion nucleotides, each carrying two bits of information, divided by eight bits per byte.

9. The two most accessible sources of historical surveys and synopses of current understanding are Curt Stern, Principles of Human Genetics, 3d ed. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1973), 443-65 and L. L. Cavalli-Sforza and W. F. Bodmer, The Genetics of Human Populations (Mineola NY: Dover, 1999), 527-31.

10. Richard A. Sturm, Neil F. Box, and Michele Ramsay, “Human Pigmentation Genetics: The Difference is Only Skin Deep,” BioEssays 20 (1998): 712-21.

11. B.K. Rana and others, “High Polymorphism at the Human Melanocortin 1 Receptor Locus,” Genetics 151, no. 4 (1999): 1547-48.

12. R.M. Harding and others, “Evidence for Variable Selective Pressures at MC1R,” Journal of Human Genetics 66, no. 4 (2000): 1351.

13. P.A. Kanetsky and others, “A Polymorphism in the Agouti Signaling Protein Gene is Associated with Human Pigmentation,” American Journal of Human Genetics 70 (2002): 770-775.

14. C. Stern, “Model Estimates of the Frequency of White and Near-White Segregants in the American Negro,” Acta Genetica 4 (1953): 281-298, 445-52.

15. See, for example, A.K. Kalla, “Inheritance of Skin Colour in Man,” Anthropologist Special Volume (1968): 158-68; G.A. Harrison and J.J.T. Owen, “Studies on the Inheritance of Human Skin Colour,” Ann. Human Genetics 28 (1964): 27-37; C. Stern, “Model Estimates of the Frequency of White and Near-White Segregants in the American Negro,” Acta Genetica 4 (1953): 281-298.

16. For 1792, see Francisco Morales Padron, “La Vida Cotidiana en una Hacienda de Esclavos,” Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena 4, no. 10 (1961): 23-33, 25. For a census-by-census table of subsequent years, see Frederick P. Bowser, “Colonial Spanish America,” in Neither Slave Nor Free: The Freedmen of African Descent in the Slave Societies of the New World, ed. David W. Cohen and Jack P. Greene (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1972), 19-58, 38.

17. Since the American occupation, the federal census in Puerto Rico has conformed to the U.S. viewpoint. Through 1950, all Puerto Ricans were census-defined as “colored” as per the enumerators’ instructions. Since 1960, the census has been self-administered, and about forty percent of Puerto Ricans have checked off “White,” while another fifty percent have checked off “other” and written in various terms (Hispanic, human, none, Puerto Rican, Latino, and the like), which the census bureau encodes as “White.” Only one Puerto Rican in ten checks off “Black.”

18. For a similar discussion of Puerto Rican admixture, rather than skin tone, see the essay “Afro-European Genetic Admixture in the United States.”

19. Clara E. Rodriguez, “Challenging Racial Hegemony: Puerto Ricans in the United States,” in Race, ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University, 1994), 131-45, 137.

20. The program (a MS-Excel macro) can be downloaded from http://backintyme.com/admixture/genetics.xls.

21. E.J. Parra and others, “Ancestral Proportions and Admixture Dynamics in Geographically Defined African Americans Living in South Carolina,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114 (2001): 18-29. This study was also mentioned in the essay, “Afro-European Genetic Admixture in the United States.”

22. For more discussion of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, see the essay “The Rate of Black-to-White ‘Passing’.”

23. An accessible introduction to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can be found in Steve Jones, Robert Martin, and David Pilbeam, eds. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University, 1992), 290.

24. A useful survey of this topic can be found in Joel Williamson, New People: Miscegenation and Mulattoes in the United States (New York: Free Press, 1980), 118-21.

25. E. Rebato and others, “Sibling Correlations of Skin Pigmentation During Growth,” Human Biology 71, no. 2 (1999): 277-293.

26. J.H. Relethford, F.C. Lees, and P.J. Bayard, “Sex and Age Variation in the Skin Color of Irish Children,” Current Anthropology 26, no. 3 (1985): 386-397.

27. Otherwise important distinctions among neoteny, paedomorphosis, and postdisplacement are irrelevant to the point being made.

28. C.L. Pfaff and others, “Using Estimates of Individual Admixture to Study the Genetics of Phenotypic Traits: Skin Pigmentation in African Americans,” American Journal of Human Genetics 69, no. 4 (2001): 410; E.J. Parra and others, “Ancestral Proportions and Admixture Dynamics in Geographically Defined African Americans Living in South Carolina,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 114 (2001): 18-29; Esteban J. Parra and others, “Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles,” American Journal of Human Genetics 63 (1998): 1839-51.

29. Again, this is easiest done by simulation rather than analytically, using something like the program at http://backintyme.com/admixture /genetics.xls.

30. Caroline Bond Day and Earnest Albert Hooton, A Study of Some Negro-White Families in the United States (Cambridge MA: Harvard University, 1932), 10; Melville J. Herskovits, The Anthropometry of the American Negro (New York: Columbia University, 1930); G.A. Harrison and J.J.T. Owen, “Studies on the Inheritance of Human Skin Colour,” Ann. Human Genetics 28 (1964): 27-37; A.K. Kalla, “Inheritance of Skin Colour in Man,” Anthropologist Special Volume (1968): 158-68; C. Stern, “Model Estimates of the Frequency of White and Near-White Segregants in the American Negro,” Acta Genetica 4 (1953): 281-298.

31. Assuming four genes (eight co-dominant haplotypes): For Philadelphia, if the probability of any haplotype’s being European is 0.20, then the probability of six out of the eight haplotypes being European (giving a European appearance to the individual) would be (0.20)^6 x 28 = 1.8 x (10)^-3. For the Sea Islands, if the probability of any haplotype’s being European is 0.03, then the probability of six out of the eight aligning to yield a European phenotype would be (0.03)^6 x 28 = 2.04 x (10)^-8. Where 28 is the number of two-in-eight combinations n!/j!(n-j)!.

32. For the U.S. rate, see Mark D. Shriver and others, “Skin Pigmentation, Biogeographical Ancestry, and Admixture Mapping,” Human Genetics 112 (2003): 387-99, Table 2. For immigration history, see: University of Chicago, ed. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15 ed. (Chicago: William Benton, 1974), 15:859; Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997), 22-4, 48-86, 804; Lerone Bennett Jr., Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 6th rev. ed. (New York: Penguin, 1993), 32; Frank Tannenbaum, Slave and Citizen, the Negro in the Americas (Boston: Beacon Press, 1946), 14-15, 44; Leslie B. Rout, The African Experience in Spanish America, 1502 to the Present Day (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University, 1976), 9, 18-20. For DNA admixture studies, see: Martin Richards and others, “Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations,” American Journal of Human Genetics 72 (2003): 1058-64; H.B. Corte-Real and others, “Genetic Diversity in the Iberian Peninsula Determined from Mitochondrial Sequence Analysis,” Annals of Human Genetics 60, no. 4 (1996): 331-50.

33. Assuming four genes (eight co-dominant haplotypes): For Spain, if the probability of any haplotype’s being African is 0.05, then the probability of three out of the eight haplotypes being African (giving an African appearance to the individual) would be (0.05)^3 x 56 = .007. For White Americans, if the probability of any haplotype’s being African is 0.007, then the probability of three of the eight aligning to yield an African phenotype would be (0.007)^3 x 56 = 1.92 x (10)^-5. Where 56 is the number of three-in-eight combinations n!/j!(n-j)!.

34. George Reid Andrews, The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800-1900 (Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1980).

35. See the essay “The Rate of Black-to-White 'Passing’” for an estimate of Black-to-White gene flow across the U.S. color line in order compute just how many individuals have made this choice over the years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evil Euro:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by [b]Evil Euro:

But they have fathers, who pass racial traits on to them. Stupid negro.

---

posted 25 July 2005 02:23 PM            

quote:

---

'hybridized' european trash wrote:

And they look the way they do because of their fathers' E3b.

---

How can it be, when they don't carry Y chromosomes, you tired old trashed cave b*tch?

eurotrash a.k.a. stupid spaghetti savage, mothers or fathers, or both, can pass on traits to their offsprings; that is a given...and so?
But obviously, your nutty little plan backfired when you tried to pass off mail order brides as vindication of what you call "caucasoid" Y chromosome carrying women. I need no corroboration for this, other than to say that, the thread is available for anyone to see for him/herself. Now, troll your tiny little greasy dago ass along, will you, borderline european.

posted 25 July 2005 03:18 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by yazid904:
celkmarshall,

It is rare to find people of character and you have shown it. To be able to share without resorting to insults and denigrations is the true mark of one who is
cultured. I salute you.

---

posted 25 July 2005 03:40 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
I am sorry, my eyes initially missed this question, because of the way it was hidden within a quote of mine you were responding to. If these had anything to do with sequences found in the control region, then yes, the question would be, why they weren't able to trace the genetic contribution to particular population.

You also mentioned that you knew one other person, who carried mtDNA with the same sequences that your DNA test results revealed. Do you have an idea of where this person comes from, or his/her ancestry?

---

posted 25 July 2005 06:23 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by celkmarshall:
I think a d-loop is a positon on the mtdna that is neither an a, c, g, t. It will show up on a printout as a -. so lets say that positon 16111 does not have an a, c, g, or t associated it would be a d-loop. If anyone has a better explanation let me know. I had also read that there is a case where two male individualsthat where related as distant cousins, showed a postion where one individual was actually in the process mutation. the band was not in a particular postion but in a shade in between. I think the theory was a postions mutation takes a few generations to complete.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Super car:
[B. I also heard a about the D-loop [from a Rick Kittles article] of the mtDNA, and how it also assists in pin-pointing a given population, from which the contribution came; though, I am not sure how this correlates with the control region of the mtDNA.

---

Mitochondrial DNA synthesis starts at a specific, unidirectional origin on one strand. Initially only one of the parental strands is used as template for synthesis of a new strand. This single new strand displaces the non-template parental strand, forming a displacement loop, or D loop. After replication of the first strand has proceeded about half way round the mitochondrial genome, synthesis of the other strand begins at a second origin and proceeds around the genome.

posted 25 July 2005 08:33 PM            

This is fascinating. I'll look into this further.

posted 25 July 2005 08:46 PM            

quote:

---

celkmarshall:
He had just emailed me a short time ago and had some research about L1A in Eqypt. He has a theory that the sequence ended up in britain thru the roman occupation of eqypt and than into britain...

---

This route is quite possible. L1a is predominant in Eastern Africa, than elsewhere on the continent. Europe is not immune to gene flow, just as most other populations around the globe.

quote:

---

Originally posted by rasol:
Mitochondrial DNA synthesis starts at a specific, unidirectional origin on one strand. Initially only one of the parental strands is used as template for synthesis of a new strand. This single new strand displaces the non-template parental strand, forming a displacement loop, or D loop. After replication of the first strand has proceeded about half way round the mitochondrial genome, synthesis of the other strand begins at a second origin and proceeds around the genome.

---

Interesting find. I’ll check out how all this ties in with the bases I mentioned earlier.

posted 26 July 2005 08:00 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super coon:
you tried to pass off mail order brides as vindication of what you call "caucasoid" Y chromosome carrying women.

---

posted 26 July 2005 08:23 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evil Euro:
No, Mr. Straw Man. I used those photos as vindication that Caucasoid Y-chromosome-carrying [b]men bred with Negroid mtDNA-carrying women. The resulting offspring of such unions are racially hybrid, whether male or female. [/B]

---

Wrong again you stupid descendant of cave dwelling savages, Y chromosones and mtDNA do *NOT* correlate to bone morphology[underhill presonal communication. And please state whic 'Caucasoid' Y chromosone carrying men mated with Negroid women produce racially hybrid East Africans?

posted 26 July 2005 02:05 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evil Euro:
No, Mr. Straw Man. I used those photos as vindication that Caucasoid Y-chromosome-carrying [b]men bred with Negroid mtDNA-carrying women. The resulting offspring of such unions are racially hybrid, whether male or female. [/B]

---

Interesting; I guess calling me Coon, must be symbolic of your new found 'respect'. Recall the out-dated "Coon", whom you seem to have 'intimate' relationship with? Anyway, halfrican eurotrash, your words are very clear; you cannot worm your way out of them. There are plenty of threads that expose you as the clown you truly are ...

Borderline euroscum posted in yet another thread:

Substantial E3b + Eurasian DNA =

Substantial E3b + Sub-Saharan DNA =

Sub-Saharan DNA + Minimal E3b =

Source: http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001700.html

posted 26 July 2005 04:42 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
How can it be, when they don't carry Y chromosomes, you tired old trashed cave b*tch?

eurotrash a.k.a. stupid spaghetti savage, mothers or fathers, or both, can pass on traits to their offsprings; that is a given...and so?
But obviously, your nutty little plan backfired when you tried to pass off mail order brides as vindication of what you call "caucasoid" Y chromosome carrying women. I need no corroboration for this, other than to say that, the thread is available for anyone to see for him/herself. Now, troll your tiny little greasy dago ass along, will you, borderline european.

---

posted 26 July 2005 04:56 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
How can it be, when they don't carry Y chromosomes, you tired old trashed cave b*tch?

eurotrash a.k.a. stupid spaghetti savage, mothers or fathers, or both, can pass on traits to their offsprings; that is a given...and so?
But obviously, your nutty little plan backfired when you tried to pass off mail order brides as vindication of what you call "caucasoid" Y chromosome carrying women. I need no corroboration for this, other than to say that, the thread is available for anyone to see for him/herself. Now, troll your tiny little greasy dago ass along, will you, borderline european.

---

posted 26 July 2005 05:14 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
Interesting; I guess calling me Coon, must be symbolic of your new found 'respect'. Recall the out-dated "Coon", whom you seem to have 'intimate' relationship with? Anyway, halfrican eurotrash, your words are very clear; you cannot worm your way out of them. There are plenty of threads that expose you as the clown you truly are ...

Borderline euroscum posted in yet another thread:

[b]Substantial E3b + Eurasian DNA =

Substantial E3b + Sub-Saharan DNA =

Sub-Saharan DNA + Minimal E3b =

Source: http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001700.html

Try hard to worm your way out of this too. eurotrash, you've just been TRASHED...yet again. [/B]

---

He forgot the Greek girl:
Substantial Sub-Saharan DNA+ Substantial Asian DNA + some European DNA:

Relaxx

posted 26 July 2005 05:31 PM            

Your concern is certainly justified, and so, I'll just repeat:

quote:

---

neo*geo:
This forum is drying up

---

Super car:

No news. The trend started to worsen when trolls discovered that they couldn't be banned. But that is a different story here:
http://phpbb-host.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=thenile

...if you want to engage in 'civilized' discussions, the above is certainly an option.

When you have security, and administrators who care about their board, anything short of a 'civil' discussion isn't tolerated.

posted 26 July 2005 05:51 PM            

quote:

---

Substantial Sub-Sahara DNA+ Substantial Asian DNA + some European DNA:

Relaxx

---

Funny.

...will be even funnier tomorrow when the sarcasm flies right over the head of a perfect idiot who thinks women 'carry' Y chromosome, that Y chromosome carries 'race classfication', and that 'Best of Asia mail order brides' carry 'pure' East African ancestry.

posted 26 July 2005 09:11 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by celkmarshall:
If anyone wants to redirect to L1A, here is the link to the Salas et al paper "the making of the african mtdna landscape" I cant seem to find a table that cross references Ethnic group by Haplogroup. Does anyone else see it?
[URL=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12395296#RF69]http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12395296#RF69[/ URL]

---

Understand that L1a per se is one of the oldest and most widespread of African haplotypes.

I don't think a spread by ethnic group will actually tell you which ethnic group's mtdna lineage you inherit.

You need more detailed information besides sex chromosome haplotype.

posted 27 July 2005 08:00 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
Substantial E3b + Sub-Saharan DNA =

---

That's correct, Mr. Straw Man.

Substantial E3b (in fathers) + Sub-Saharan DNA (in mothers) = Racially hybrid (male or female offspring)

posted 27 July 2005 08:08 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Topdog:
Wrong again you stupid descendant of cave dwelling savages, Y chromosones and mtDNA do *NOT* correlate to bone morphology[underhill presonal communication. And please state whic 'Caucasoid' Y chromosone carrying men mated with Negroid women produce racially hybrid East Africans?

---

* Yawn *

Ethiopians are closer to West and South Africans maternally (Plot A), while they group with Eurasian populations paternally (Plot B).
That's why they look the way they do (i.e. racially hybrid).

posted 27 July 2005 10:07 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evil Euro:
* Yawn *

Ethiopians are closer to West and South Africans maternally (Plot A), while they group with Eurasian populations paternally (Plot B).
That's why they look the way they do (i.e. racially hybrid).

[This message has been edited by Evil Euro (edited 27 July 2005).]

---

From Salas et tal:

Notice where Ethiopians cluster and where West Africans and Bantu speakers cluster. If Ethiopians had substantial amount of mixture with Bantu speakers maternal why aren't they clustering so close? Note: Salas et tal's study is more accurate since more populations are being sampled, unlike the six total 'African' populations in the plot you posted, and even then Ethiopians still don't form a very close cluster with West and southern Africans.

posted 27 July 2005 10:43 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Topdog:
Notice where Ethiopians cluster and where West Africans and Bantu speakers cluster. If Ethiopians had substantial amount of mixture with Bantu speakers maternal why aren't they clustering so close? Note: Salas et tal's study is more accurate since more populations are being sampled, unlike the six total 'African' populations in the plot you posted, and even then Ethiopians still don't form a very close cluster with West and southern Africans.

---

It's interesting to recall the recent Dienekes foul up, in which he inadvertently admited by way of argument, that East Africans were more similar to Greeks in terms of Y chromosome [paternal] frequencies.

Of course they are, Greeks bear 24% sub-saharan East African Y chromosome lineages which of course is concordant with the findings of:

Arnaiz-Villena A.; Dimitroski K.; Pacho A. et al: Greeks are found to have a substantial relatedness to sub-Saharan (Ethiopian) people

Now, this study makes Dienekes go ballistic.

Yet he aknowledges the correctness of its essential conclusion, while trying to invert it with rhetorical sophistry - in an ultimately self defeating fashion. lol.

Also, most demic diffusions are Y chromosome biased.

This means migrant males typically mate with native females, and the resultant expansion of migrant male Y chromosome is due to founder effect - a few male lienages are perpetuated disproportunately.

This is the case with Neolithic East AFrican intrusions into West Asia and Europe.

This is why the Greeks still bear sub saharan East African Y lineages, but little to no East African female lineages.

Other examples include Berber expansion into NorthWest Africa [East African male lineages, West European female], and the historic Bantu expansion as well.

We may relate this to L1a halpotype -

This is why SouthEast African Bantu speaking populations tend to combine E3a with L1a - Bantu Expansion male [E3a] + Native East African female linages [L1a].

Finally, this is why the lack of E3a in Ethiopia closes the case on Bantu expansion into Ethiopia.

The Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, have no E3a, in agreement with linguistic and archeological evidence, proving beyound doubt that the Bantu expansion did not reach Ethiopia.

No E3a plus no Bantu language plus no Bantu archeology = no Bantu, in Ethiopia.

It's simply a non starter argument, but...what can you expect from an inept troll who cannot correctly comprehend even a single sentence of genetic study abstract? lol.

Finally, note: E3a has been found in small measure in Southern Europe and significant measure in Southern Arabia.

E3a is too dated in the Nile Valley since the Holocene [pre-bantu], which makes its absence in Ethiopia all the more remarkable.

posted 27 July 2005 01:27 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by yazid904:
Interesting to note that Super Car's pictures 1 and 2 seem to be half sisters

---

Lol. They are not even from the same country, silly. The irony obviously went over your head, and as usual your interventions are off-point. [Mt. Kilimanjaro anyone?]

quote:

---

They could be Somali, Ethiopian or even Yemeni ethnicity

---

Nope, do you even understand that Ethiopian is a nationality not an ethnicity?

Celkmarshall, welcome to EgyptSearch, where intelligent conversation goes to die. lol.

posted 27 July 2005 01:52 PM            

quote:

---

eurotrash:
That's correct, Mr. Straw Man.

Substantial E3b (in fathers) + Sub-Saharan DNA (in mothers) = Racially hybrid (male or female offspring)

The fact that you Negroes are too stupid to figure out that reproduction requires two genders is not my problem.

---

eurotrash has finally been forced to confess to his beyond-stupidity claim, and has now convinced us that he is still a nutcase for saying that nothing is wrong with this claim, after working terribly hard at denying ever said such a thing.

posted 27 July 2005 01:57 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by yazid904:
Interesting to note that Super Car's pictures 1 and 2 seem to be half sisters, whether maternal or fraternal twins is interesting. They seem to share the same 'features'.

---

posted 28 July 2005 07:55 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
for actually believing that something women don't carry, can be said to have an impact on their morphology.

---

posted 28 July 2005 08:05 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Evil Euro:
So if an African man carrying E3a mates with a European woman carrying H, their female offspring will be morphologically European?

---

So if an East African man carrying E3b mates with a African woman carrying L, their female offspring will be morphologically a Caucasoid-Negroid hybrid?

posted 28 July 2005 09:52 AM            

Though I realize they are not related by your standards, I see all humanity as a relative(s). In this way, my submission to god is based on understanding and knowledge of actions.

Looking at the facial structure of the two girls, I see a similiarity and it not European, though the first has some degree of European ancestry (obviously not Northern European or Slavic) whilst the other appears to be more East African hybrid (can also be from one of the hill tribes of India or Nepal, New Guinea, Andamon Islands, and even Yemeni.

She could even be bin Laden's cousin!!!
bin Laden, obviously is not a European. As a Yemeni, he is representative of that group. Tribal affiliation I cannot decipher.

hoda hafez

posted 28 July 2005 10:45 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Topdog:

So if an East African man carrying E3b mates with a African woman carrying L, their female offspring will be morphologically a Caucasoid-Negroid hybrid?

---

lol. Your patient attempt to educate Dienekes-Zombies is admirable.

But it's clear that they still do not grasp Underhill and Wills explanations of Y chromosome's non-causal relationship with morphology.

And since their ignorance functions in the service of their racism, it renders them effectively ineducable.

They also mistake their own stupidity for a 'weapon' in debates, when it is really a weakness.

They merely allow yourself and 'others' to make point after point without being able to offer anything remotely approaching a coherent rebuttal.

I really wish Dienekes would stop by in person. He does a better job of defending his garbage than his parrots do. Possibly because con-artists realise that they are phonies, even when those who parrot them do not.

posted 28 July 2005 12:56 PM            

The vast majority show the traits in hair or facial or head (index)structure, albeit unscientific. One neighbour, European/African admixture and husband Mexican/Greek all have blond hair with brown eyes though as they age, their true hybrid character will show. ANother neighbour Lebanese/African looks more European than most, while another Lebanese/Chinese looks like neither but he is over 6ft.

posted 28 July 2005 01:25 PM            

quote:

---

eurotrash:
So if an African man carrying E3a mates with a European woman carrying H, their female offspring will be morphologically European?

---

You said it dummy, I didn't.

posted 29 July 2005 08:19 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Topdog:
So if an East African man carrying E3b mates with a African woman carrying L, their female offspring will be morphologically a Caucasoid-Negroid hybrid?

---

Precisely. That's the process that created modern hybrid East Africans:

posted 29 July 2005 08:25 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Super car:
You said it dummy, I didn't.

What is common sense though, is that the resultant "female offspring" will not inherit the Y-Chromosome from the African man. So, it goes without saying, but for you it is necessary, that the Y-chromosome has no bearings on the offsprings morphology; she doesn't carry Y-chromosome in the first place, to get genetic information from it. I know, this concept has proven too difficult for you to grasp, but the important thing is that everyone else (with brains) understands this.

---

posted 29 July 2005 08:52 AM            

Skin Color Adaptation

Human skin color is quite variable around the world. It ranges from a very dark brown among some Africans, Australians, and Melanesians to a near yellowish pink among some Northern Europeans. There are no people who actually have true black, white, red, or yellow skin. These are commonly used color terms that do not reflect biological reality.

Some of the variation in human skin coloration
(Sub-Saharan African, Indian, Southern European, and Northern European)

Skin color is due primarily to the presence of a pigment called melanin . Both light and dark complexioned people have this pigment. However, two forms are produced--pheomelanin , which is red to yellow in color, and eumelanin , which is dark brown to black. People with light complexioned skin mostly produce pheomelanin, while those with dark colored skin mostly produce eumelanin. In addition, individuals differ in the number and size of melanin particles. The latter two variables are more important in determining skin color than the percentages of the different kinds of melanin. In lighter skin, color is also affected by red cells in blood flowing close to the skin. To a lesser extent, the color is affected by the presence of fat under the skin and carotene , a reddish-orange pigment in the skin.

Melanin is normally located in the epidermis , or outer skin layer. It is produced at the base of the epidermis by specialized cells called melanocytes .

Cross section of human skin
(colors are not true to life in this illustration)

Nature has selected for people with darker skin in tropical latitudes, especially in nonforested regions, where ultraviolet radiation from the sun is usually the most intense. Melanin acts as a protective biological shield against ultraviolet radiation. By doing this, it helps to prevent sunburn damage that could result in DNA changes and, subsequently, melanoma --a cancer of the skin. Melanoma is a serious threat to life. In the United States, approximately 54,000 people get this aggressive type of cancer every year and nearly 8,000 of them die from it. Those at highest risk are European Americans. They have a 10 times higher risk than African Americans.

Ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth usually increases in summer and decreases in winter. The skin's ability to tan in summertime is an acclimatization to this seasonal change. Tanning is primarily an increase in the number and size of melanin granules due to the stimulation of ultraviolet radiation.

Irish boy who
is essentially
unable to tan
While skin tanning is often most noticeable on light complexioned people, even those with very dark brown skin can tan as a result of prolonged exposure to the sun. Some Northwest Europeans have substantially lost the ability to tan as a result of relaxed natural selection. Their skin burns and peels rather than tans. They are at a distinct disadvantage in tropical and subtropical environments. Not only do they suffer the discomfort of readily burning, but they are at a much higher risk for skin cancer. The same is true of albinos.

It would be harmful if melanin acted as a complete shield. A certain amount of shortwave ultraviolet radiation (UVB) must penetrate the outer skin layer in order for the body to produce vitamin D. Approximately 90% of this vitamin in people normally is synthesized in their skin and the kidneys from a cholesterol-like precursor chemical with the help of ultraviolet radiation. The remaining 10% comes from foods such as fatty fish and egg yolks. Simple vitamin D is converted by our bodies into two sequential forms. The last form, commonly referred to as vitamin D3, is needed for the intestines to absorb calcium and phosphorus from food for bone growth and repair. Calcium is also necessary in adults to maintain normal heart action, blood clotting, and a stable nervous system. However, too much ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin may cause the break down of folic acid (or folate--one of the B vitamins) in the body, which can cause anemia. Pregnant women who are deficient in folic acid are at a higher risk of having babies with neural tube defects. Because folic acid is needed for DNA replication in dividing cells, its absence can have an effect on many body processes, including the production of sperm cells. It may be that the ability to produce melanin was selected for in our early human ancestors because it helped preserve the body's folic acid supply in addition to reducing the chances of developing skin cancer.

People who live in far northern latitudes, where solar radiation is relatively weak most of the year, have an advantage if their skin has little shielding pigmentation. Nature selects for less melanin when ultraviolet radiation is weak. In such an environment, very dark skin is a disadvantage because it can prevent people from producing enough vitamin D, potentially resulting in rickets disease in children and osteoporosis in adults. Contributing to the development of osteoporosis in older people is the fact that their skin generally loses some of its ability to produce vitamin D. Women who had prolonged vitamin D deficiencies as girls have a higher incidence of pelvic deformities that prevent normal delivery of babies.

The Inuit people of the American Subarctic are an exception. They have moderately heavy skin pigmentation despite the far northern latitude at which they live. While this is a disadvantage for vitamin D production, they apparently made up for it by eating fish and sea mammal blubber that are high in D. In addition, the Inuit have been in the far north for only about 5,000 years. This may not have been enough time for significantly lower melanin production to have been selected for by nature.

In the United States and other developed nations, milk is now usually fortified with vitamins D and A in order to prevent developmental problems such as those described above. However, the popularity of soft drinks and other alternatives to milk along with a decrease in the amount of time spent outdoors has led to a considerable rise in the rate of rickets disease. Not surprisingly, vitamin D deficiency is most acute in the winter in temperate and colder zones.

There is also a strong correlation between the amount of sunlight that children are exposed to and whether or not they will develop multiple sclerosis as adults. Most cases of this degenerative neural disorder are in the temperate regions of the world where the sunlight is rarely intense. Children growing up in tropical and subtropical regions rarely develop MS regardless of where their ancestors came from. This protection apparently continues for those who move to far northern or far southern regions after 16 years of age. What processes are responsible for this protection from MS and its possible relationship to skin color are unknown.

New research by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin has led to the discovery that women generally produce 3-4% less melanin in their skin than do men in all populations of the world. They suggest that this is probably due to the fact that women have far higher calcium requirements during their reproductive years. Mate selection preference and other cultural practices may also be partly responsible for this gender difference in skin coloration.

Skin Color Distribution Around the World

Before the mass global migrations of people during the last 500 years, dark skin color was mostly concentrated near the equator and light color progressively increased further away, as illustrated in the map below. In fact, the majority of dark pigmented people lived within 20° of the equator. Most of the lighter pigmented people lived in the northern hemisphere north of 20° latitude.

(Data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940.)

Such a non-random distribution pattern of human skin color was predicted by Wilhelm Gloger, a 19th century naturalist. In 1833, he observed that heavily pigmented animals are to be found mostly in hot climates where there is intense sunshine. Conversely, those in cold climates closer to the poles commonly have light pigmentation. The relative intensity of solar radiation is largely responsible for this distribution pattern.

There are exceptions to Gloger's rule in the animal kingdom. In some cases, these are due to the fact that the survival value of having a camouflaged body can be more important than the selective pressures of ultraviolet radiation. Among humans, mate selection preferences may counter some of the evolutionary trend in skin color predicted by Gloger. The Inuit case described earlier suggests that diet may also be a significant factor in some societies. In the United States today, milk is regularly fortified with vitamin D to reduce the likelihood of children having calcium deficiencies. Despite this effort, some segments of the population still have high rates of calcium deficiency--especially African Americans and the elderly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEWS: In the April 2001 issue of the journal Pediatrics, there is a report concerning malnutrition among children in the U.S. state of Georgia that indicates there is a high frequency of rickets disease, especially among African Americans. This previously rare condition, which is caused by vitamin D deficiency, is making a comeback. There are now about 200,000 cases of it in Georgia. The study suggests that the dramatic increase in frequency is mainly due to three things: drinking milk substitutes that do not contain vitamin D, the failure to supplement breast milk, and insufficient exposure to sunlight. The popularity of carbonated soft drinks may also contribute to the problem because they usually contain phosphoric acid which can hinder bone growth.

posted 29 July 2005 09:03 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by celkmarshall:
I had also read a statement in one of my papers that researchers are suggesting that it takes approx 5000 for changes in skin color to take place thru the process of natural selection.

---

Involving a small or isolated population theoretically yes. That is, a highly advantageous mutation could spread throughout a small population relatively quickly.

This is true of most any physical feature and is one of the reasons that traits like skin color, skull shape, hair texture, etc, can not be equated to 'race'.

For example, Australian Aboriginenes sometimes have blonde hair, but the genetic structures that tigger it are distinct from northern Europeans.

posted 29 July 2005 01:21 PM            

quote:

---

eurotrash:
So you're going on record in agreement with the statement that an E3a-carrying West African man mating with an H-carrying European woman will bear morphologically Caucasoid daughters?

---

You are.

Ps - Glaringly lame attempts of putting words into the mouths of others, are somehow supposed to deflect attention from your intellectually bankrupt belief of Y chromosome carrying women. No intellectual cowardice will get you out of that gutter!

posted 30 July 2005 07:56 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Super car:
You are.

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posted 30 July 2005 08:20 AM            

WHAT IS AncestrybyDNA?

DNA Print genomics, Inc. is an applied science company focused on the development and marketing of innovative genetic testing products and services. Our scientists aim their research towards discovery of DNA analysis solutions to serve clients in Forensic Science, Genealogical Research, and Pharmaceutical development.

AncestrybyDNA, the flagship product of our Genealogy group, now makes it affordable for the general public to discover their hereditary profile. This is a great tool for those individuals or groups interested in exploring their ancestry and lineage. By submitting a DNA sample to our lab, customers can receive an impressive analysis of their geographic origins. AncestrybyDNA will determine your genetic heritage among the four anthropological groups:

Native American
East Asian
Sub-Saharan Africa
European

These groups are named using modern-day terms but represent anthropological lineages that extend back in time tens of thousands of years. For example, the term “European” is meant to describe a common ancestry held by peoples from continental Europe, the Middle East, Eurasia, Central Asia and South Asia – sometimes referred to as “Caucasoids”. EuroDNA is a more advanced analysis tool that allows our clients of Indo-European heritage to more thoroughly understand their ancestry. This service will predict your Indo-European heritage among the following groups:

Northern European
Southeastern European
Middle Eastern
South Asian

The tests are simple and painless, and your Ancestry Certification Analysis is shipped to you in a matter of weeks.

purpose
Very few of our ancestors remained in one part of the world; most migrated to different regions and population interactions and mixture over the past 50,000 years has been fundamental in shaping modern-day society. As a result, our geographic origins have become more complex over the generations. Possibly you are adopted and have an interest in better understanding your heritage. Or perhaps you are wondering if you are of Native American descent. Many of our clients simply desire to explore and confirm their family's genealogical profile. The Ancestry Certification Analysis provided by AncestrybyDNA delivers these results and a wealth of additional backup analysis to be kept for generations to come.

scientific overview
AncestrybyDNA has been developed to take advantage of a patented scientific breakthrough in DNA analysis that allows genealogical research to now be done very cost-effectively. Because of this breakthrough, BioGeographical Ancestry (BGA) research is now available to the general public.

Our scientists have discovered a method to focus DNA analysis on only those regions of the DNA that are meaningful in determining the anthropological origins of an individual's ancestry. These Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) are used to quantitatively estimatethe BioGeographical Ancestry of an individual. For example, one person may obtain a 90% European, 10% sub-Saharan African result while another may obtain a 100% East Asian result.

This powerful DNA analysis technology is currently in use by forensic scientists, crime laboratories, and medical examiners worldwide. For example, DNAPrint Genomics' Forensic system was used to help identify and convict a serial killer in 2003 (see investor relations section of www.dnaprint.com).

posted 30 July 2005 08:25 AM            

DNA is short for DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. DNA is a double-stranded helical molecule found in the cells of all organisms. DNA contains the biological, genetic instructions to build an organism which are passed down from parent to child, but it also controls the day-to-day function of all cells as well. A gene is a specific section of the long, double-stranded helical molecule of DNA which contains specific instructions for some specific function. Thousands of genes make up a chromosome and 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs define the human genome. The complete human genome contains billions of instructions and bits of information. The focus of this lecture is to learn how to use certain specific types of DNA information which is passed down from parent to child over generations to aide in solving genealogical puzzles.

Basic biology and genetics tells us that the 23rd chromosome pair, in the human genome, is the chromosome set that determines gender. Males have both an "X" and a "Y" in their 23rd chromosome pair and are thus “XY”, but females carry two X’s or an "XX" for their 23rd chromosome pair. The unfertilized human egg cell always has a single X chromosome obtained randomly from one of the mother’s two X chromosomes when the egg cell is produced. The human egg will become a female embryo if the male sperm that initially reaches the egg cell carries an X-chromosome. The egg will become a male embryo if the male sperm that initially reaches the egg cell carries a Y-chromosome. The male embryo thus gets its Y chromosome from the father who in turn got it from his father. Thus you can see the Y-chromosome is passed down from generation to generation only through the male line. In order to better understand how we arrived at this point, we need to reach for the next level.

The complete set of DNA instructions for making an organism is called its genome. Found in every nucleus of a person’s many cells, the human genome consists of tightly coiled threads of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and associated protein molecules, organized into structures called chromosomes. In humans, as in other higher organisms, a DNA molecule consists of two strands that wrap around each other to resemble a twisted ladder whose sides, made of sugar and phosphate molecules, are connected by rungs of nitrogen--containing chemicals called bases. Each strand is a linear arrangement of repeating similar units called nucleotides, which are each composed of one sugar, one phosphate, and a nitrogenous base. Four different bases are present in DNA: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). See Figure 1 on the next page. The particular order of the bases arranged along the sugar- phosphate backbone is called the DNA sequence. These sequences specify the exact genetic instructions required to create a particular organism with its own unique traits.

The two DNA strands are held together by weak bonds between the bases on each strand, forming base pairs (bp). The human genome contains over 3 billion base pairs (bp). The complete detailed and verified mapping of the entire human genome is expected to be completed in 2003.

These three billion base pairs (bp) in the human genome are organized into 23 distinct, physically separate microscopic units or packets called chromosomes. All genes are arranged linearly along the chromosomes. The nucleus of most human cells contains 2 sets of chromosomes. Each parent provides one set. Each set has 23 single chromosomes; 22 autosomes and an X or Y gender chromosome. A normal female will have a pair of X-chromosomes in this 23rd chromosome set; a normal male’s 23rd chromosome set will have an X and Y chromosome.

Figure 1 - Pictorial Example of Nuclear DNA Structure

Credit: University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,

and the Department of Energy. (Edited slightly by me for use in this report.)

Types of DNA

Autosomal DNA (atDNA) – Nuclear DNA information which makes up our individual genetic identity which is the random combination of all genetic information passed down to us from all our blood-line ancestors and is contained in the nuclear DNA consisting of the merged set of chromosomes found in the nucleus of cells. We get this randomly assorted merged set of chromosomes from our mother and father. Autosomal DNA is what is used for the typical paternity test.

Y Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) - Nuclear DNA information which is found in the Y Chromosome which only exists in males. The Y Chromosome is passed along from male to male via a sperm cell which contained the Y Chromosome of the father. The sperm cell having a Y Chromosome determines that the child will be male. Thus only males have the Y chromosome and only males can pass along the Y chromosome from father to sons.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) - Non-nuclear DNA which is a small DNA molecule contained in the Mitochondria (mtDNA) organelles which are located inside the cells of all of a mother’s children, both male and female. The Mitochondria organelles are not in the nucleus of the cell but are outside the nucleus. Thus mtDNA is not nuclear DNA and is found inside the Mitochondria organelles located inside the cell but outside the nucleus of the cell. We get our Mitochondria only via the egg cell of our mother. Thus only females can pass on MtDNA to their offspring.

Types of DNA of Most Interest to Genealogists?

A) Y Chromosome (Nuclear) or Y-DNA

All men and only men have a Y chromosome. This biological fact allows us to trace back in time a direct, largely unchanged genetic line of inheritance from father to son.

Every person, male or female has 22 matching pairs of chromosome -- one inherited from each parent -- but the 23rd pair is different. This unmatched pair, known as the X and Y gender chromosomes, determines whether we are male (XY) or female (XX). A mother always provides a single X chromosome in her egg. Inherit an X from your father and you will be a female, receive a copy of his Y and you will be male. And so the Y chromosome travels from father to son with each successive generation of males.

The second thing that makes the Y chromosome unique is that the information carried on Y-chromosomes is inherited largely intact over time. Unlike other chromosomes, the genetic material on the Y chromosome is not mixed with each new generation. The reason is that when cells divide in preparation to make sperm and egg, all 23-chromosome pairs line up to exchange random bits and pieces of DNA with their matching partner before separating. All the chromosomes do this exchange of genetic material save the mismatched XY pair. The Y is much shorter and very little of its genetic information is broken up in an exchange of DNA with the X chromosome. The information carried on the Y chromosome travels from father to son as a nearly exact copy of itself.

Occasionally, during the DNA copying process small changes or mutations occur, and it is these mutational differences that allow us to distinguish the Y chromosome of an individual from his ancestor's. Thus an actual genetic record of the male line going back through time exists -- as clear a marker of paternal heritage as a father's family name.

A tangible timekeeper of history, the Y chromosome allows us to trace human evolution, track migration patterns and relatedness in groups of people, and answer paternity questions going back generations. As we pull apart the Y chromosome, we begin to unravel some fascinating stories about our own origins.

B) Mitochondria or mtDNA

Mitochondria--The energy component in all cells in the human body, is passed from mothers to all their children through the union of the mothers egg and the male’s sperm. Mitochondria organelles are located outside of the cell’s nucleus and have their own DNA. The mtDNA molecule is much shorter than the nuclear DNA. It is only about 16,500 base pair in length and it is arranged in a small circle like a donut. Compare that to nuclear DNA which is about 3.2 billion base pair in length and is arranged in a long spiraled and coiled thread like structure. The typically basic mtDNA test yields a standardized result of 400 base pairs that are compared to the Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS). The results of the test, which will include the Hyper Variable Section #1 of the control area of the mtDNA, will yield a few base pairs that differ from the standard Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS). Since the standard was created around a western European woman, the more changes one has from the standard the farther back in time one’s mtDNA would have split from the base of the genetic tree. For example most Africans have 7 or 9 differences while most Europeans have a few or perhaps 5 of these polymorphism from the Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS). One’s maternal ancient Haplogroup is determined from the basic mtDNA test. Advanced, refined, or so called mtDNA Plus tests also test a second region of the mtDNA called Hyper Variable Section #2. The additional data from the second Section when combined with the first section results allows greater differentiation between individual’s maternal line and reduces the time to your most recent common maternal ancestor when you have an exact match between two people for both HVS1 and HVS2.

The Anthropologists have broken down human mtDNA into about 30 distinct groups called Haplogoups, with many sub groups assigned to each group.

If you match someone on the mtDNA side you will know that you and they share a common female ancestor, but the time to the MRCA is typically several thousand years ago, and certainly not less then many hundreds of years group. FTDNA, the company I use for testing, also offers an refined/enhanced mtDNA Plus test that examines the HVS2 section of the Mitochondria to reduce the time predictions to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) in the female direct line.

Figure 2 - Y-DNA Paternal Line and mtDNA Maternal Line Inheritance Charts

Shows How the Y-Chromosome (Y-DNA) and Mitochondria (mtDNA) Are Inherited

How Can DNA Analysis Help Genealogists?

Genetic comparisons can determine if a person is or is not genetically closely related to another person. But we should be aware that there are limitations using current Y-DNA or mtDNA testing. One can determine that two people are related but one cannot determine the degree of the blood relationship. In addition to the typical paternity tests that most people are familiar with for use with the most recent generation, these are some of the basic DNA tests that are available and useful to the family genealogist for investigating genealogical relationships in earlier generations on the Pedigree Chart - .

The Y-Chromosome DNA Test (Y-DNA)

The Y-chromosome, in the nuclear DNA of every living male, is virtually identical to that of his father, his paternal grandfather, etc., and is carried by male cousins of any degree of relationship that share the same male ancestor. It creates a clear set of genetic markers, known as a haplotype, that distinguishes one male-to-male lineage from another. See this website for an example of using Y-DNA for genealogy: “http://www.kerchner.com/kerchdna.htm”.

The Y-chromosome Test Can Help Determine:

1. Whether specific individual men share a common male ancestor.

2. If a set of men with the same or similar surname are directly related through a common ancestor.

3. How many different common male ancestors any given group shares.

4. To which broad haplogroup each individual male belongs.

5. An analysis of the mutations in the Y-chromosome can also be used to estimate the degree of separation between individual males in terms of number of generations since the separation occurred. Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) is another way of expressing this separation. There is currently a debate over the 'natural' rate of mutation over time. A mutation can occur at any time. Natural mutations have been postulated to be occurring on average about once per 500 generations per marker. But some family surname Y-DNA studies are observing average mutation rates of about twice that rate, i.e., once per 250 generations per marker. Also it is now acknowledged that some Y-DNA DYS markers mutate at a higher average rate than other Y-DNA DYS markers.

The Mitochondria DNA Test (mtDNA)

The mtDNA test looks at the DNA of the mitochondria, a special part of all-human cells, which is passed on, female-to-child, and inherited down the female line. It is generally used to study long-term population developments such as human migrations. It is a favorite genetic tool of Anthropologists. The Mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) test can reveal detail about the distant origins of maternal ancestors and could be used to link individuals via the female line. The mtDNA test will also determine your maternal Haplogroup and the area of the world where that direct female ancestor is thought to have lived. However, for genealogical purposes, even if you are tested with the enhanced/refined or so-called mtDNA Plus test, it not as precise in resolution of time to Most Recent Common Ancestor as the male Y-DNA test, and since the female line birth/maiden names quickly get lost in history, the mtDNA test is thus generally not as useful for genealogical purposes as the Y-DNA test. But it can be used to confirm scientifically that two people share a common female direct maternal line ancestor if one is suspected via traditional genealogical research. MtDNA has been extensively studied for over 20 years and is used quite extensively for anthropological studies. Interesting migration maps have been created to show the spread of different female lines throughout the world.

The BioGeographical Ancestry (BGA) DNA Test (atDNA)

The BioGeographical (BGA) Ancestry Test marketed under the trade name of DNAPrint is the lastest DNA test available for the use of the genealogist. It examines Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) found in the autosomal chromosome pairs (atDNA) inherited from the father and mother, who in turn got them from their mothers and fathers, and so on back into time. Certain marker allele values occur at higher frequency in one population group as compared to another population group. By determining which AIM allele value results one has at about 71 marker locations in one’s autosomal chromosomes and then running those marker data results through DNAPrint’s proprietary computer algorithm, DNAPrint provides you with a report of your population group genetic mixture expressed as percentages divided by this company into 4 major population groups identified by DNAPrint: Indo-European, East Asian, Native American, and Sub-Saharan African. The sum of these four percentage allocations to each population group of course must add up to 100%. One could test out as 100,0,0,0 or 0,0,0,100, or 79,21,0,0, or 80,10,5,5, etc. One could be found to be genetically placed all in one group, or alternatively mostly in one group and with some minority percentage of one or more of the other groups, or with some content from all four groups. Which ever group result shows more than 50% content is called the dominant population group. While the test claims it can allocate your genetic material origin to various population groups, the test cannot differentiate between whether the markers are from recent (in a genealogical time frame) or from ancient times. Thus the BGA test results cannot be used in a vacuum and must be used in conjunction with other genealogical evidence when used for genealogical purposes. For example, a genealogist could use this test to help prove or disprove a rumor or family legend which is alleged to have occurred in your genealogically recent family tree that a grandparent, great-grandparent, or gg-grandparent was of a different population group then the dominant population group of one’s family tree. This BGA test can also be used to detect minority admixture markers in one’s genome derived from ancient sources, and thus also can be used for anthropological projects. See this website for an example of using the BGA test: “http://www.kerchner.com/pa-gerdna.htm”.

What Does DNA Test Kit and Test Results Look Like? Prices?

The typical DNA specimen collection test kit comes in a small envelope and usually consists of two swabs which look like tooth brushes. No needles or blood samples are used. Detailed instructions for the use of the swabs is included but basically these sterile swabs are used to swab the inner lining of your cheeks for about 30 seconds to gather cells for DNA testing. It is simple and totally painless. There are also vials containing a preservative liquid in which the swab heads are inserted for return to the test lab. If you are sharing your test results with a database or family project there will also be a simple release form which you must sign to allow the lab to share your results with the database or the family project coordinator.

The test results are a series of numbers which are used to compare your results to others. For the Y-DNA test this is usually a series of 25 numbers. For the 25 marker Y-DNA test, if the series of 25 numbers for two men being tested is exactly the same, or if only 1 or at most two markers are off by a count of 1 step, and you share the same or a similar surname, then you each are probably closely genetically related, and have a recent common male ancestor, probably within the last 8 generations.

Prices run about $210 for a Y-DNA 25 marker analysis. Group discounts are available from most test labs. Prices are dropping every few months as more and more people are being tested and economies of scale are being introduced by the testing labs.

Figure 3 - Picture of DNA Specimen Collection Kit

Credits: Picture Courtesy of FamilyTreeDNA.com

Figure 4 – Typical 25 Marker Y-DNA Test Results Certificate

What Are The Rewards And Risks of DNA Testing?

The rewards from DNA testing are obvious for the genealogist…those being, to either confirm or rebuke the theory that two people are related through a common ancestor. The value in this is immense…given the amount of time and expense that most genealogical enthusiasts spend on this consuming hobby. Why travel to England to search for records of people who might be related to you when you can insure that each hour spent will be invested on record collecting for absolute members of your extended family.

While the rewards can be great, i.e., confirming that needle in the haystack, the risks can be daunting as well. In practically every family reconstruction project an example of a ‘surprise negative’ becomes visible. These unexpected events arise when two known relatives show up as not matching, and I’m not talking about being off by 1 data point step, but by many data point steps across the test spectrum. The reasons for these embarrassing surprises are:

A. Unannounced adoption—Many times in the past a calamity would take place and a neighboring youth would be raised by a family. Over time the child might assume the surname of the ‘adopted’ family as he/she was raised as one of their own.

B. False Paternity---The biological father being different from the known husband and legally recorded father.

The incidence of these two situations is estimated at between 2-5% PER GENERATION by population geneticists. When results come back and a surprise negative is found it can be a very delicate situation for a family to deal with. If a re-construction project is underway within the family, after a re-test of the individual(s) is completed to double confirm the surprise negative, this is the time for the “Family Coordinator” to sit down and have a polite but open, frank discussion with the person who is surprised by the results and talk about how they would like these facts treated. Every situation is different and different people will react to such information in very different ways. So great care must be taken in presenting such information when doing a family re-construction project.

Case Studies

Kerchner—An evolving project which used DNA testing to establish a Y-DNA haplotype profile for the male descendants of the immigrant Adam Kerchner, who arrived in PA in 1741 on the ship Thane of Fife. This initial step took courage since there is always the possibility of surprise results. But it turned out well. The 5th and 2nd cousin tests positively confirmed the historical genealogical records and research for this clan of Kerchner’s and known descendants. Once a proven haplotype profile was established for Adam Kerchner’s clan, this haplotype could then be used as a reference to see if Adam Kerchner’s descendants were biologically related to other male Kerchner clan descendants such as the male descendants of the immigrant Frederick Kerchner, who arrived in PA in 1751 on the ship Brothers. Some researchers have theorized they were related. Both immigrants settled in the same geographic area, Hereford and Longswamp Townships area of Berks Co PA, and the early family and historical records of the two families are often confused. The immigrant Frederick Kerchner and his family moved from the Berks County PA area to the Bedford County PA area in the late 1700’s. While there is no known historical, legal or church inter-relationship between the families, the two families used similar given names and it was thought by many researchers that the two immigrants could be closely related, possibly cousins or maybe even brothers. Initial Y-DNA testing of one recorded descendant of the 1751 immigrant Frederick Kerchner was done. The initial results did not completely confirm or disprove the theory. Since only 12 markers were used and we did not get an exact match at that resolution, we could not say for sure he was closely related or that he was not closely related. In the absence of an exact match, or a large mismatch, a 12 marker test is just not clear enough. Thus the initial tests did not conclusively prove or disprove that he was recently related to the 1741 immigrant Adam Kerchner. The 12 markers of the descendant of the immigrant Frederick Kerchner were off by two steps from the Adam Kerchner haplotype which is more than would be expected if he was very closely and recently related to Adam Kerchner’s line, such as being a brother of Adam when they both arrived in PA. A 12 for 12 match is what is desired or at most a one step variance. However, additional testing of more markers over the next year using newer refined tests plus using a second laboratory yielded a match of 33 markers out of 35 tested. Thus the relationship grew statistically very close indeed. This indicated that Frederick and Adam were indeed related, but probably not brothers. They were most likely first to fourth cousins of each other. See the websites http://www.kerchner.com/kerchdna.htm and http://www.kerchner.com/labmerge.htm and Kerchner Surname Project handout for more details about the results and the continuing plans for this Y-DNA surname project.

Thomas Jefferson-Hemings—Used Y-DNA analysis to prove that Thomas Jefferson, or a Jefferson family male blood relative such as an uncle or nephew, fathered children with a slave named Sally Hemings who worked inside the home of Thomas Jefferson. Hand me down stories of the descendants of the slave Sally Hemings stated that Thomas Jefferson was their ancestor. Circumstantial evidence indicated that Thomas Jefferson’s and Sally Hemings had the opportunity for an intimate relationship since she lived in the home of Thomas Jefferson and she traveled and lived with him in Europe during diplomatic visits. Now the new Y-DNA tests confirm the merits of the Sally Hemings descendants family oral history and other historical evidence. For more information see the Associated Press story by Malcolm Ritter printed in the Sunday, 1 November 1998 issue of the Morning Call newspaper. Many more details about this Thomas Jefferson DNA project can be found on the Internet using search engines such as Google.com by searching under the key words “Thomas Jefferson DNA Project”. Here is the address for a website I found particularly succinct in describing the Jefferson-Hemings history and Y-DNA analysis and results: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjh9u/jeffhemm.html .

Mumma—Used Y-DNA testing to prove that the American Mumma’s were related to the German Mummah’s and then further confirmed that a Swedish family, named Reenstjerna

was, in fact related to the German Mummah clan. Family lore had it that the Reenstjerna

Clan has been Mummah’s and had immigrated to Sweden several hundred years ago; in fact the common ancestor between the Reenstjerna and Mummah families was born in the year of 1541. See website: http://www.mumma.org/DNA.htm for more details. Note: The letters DNA in the website address must be capitalized as shown in the address.

Duerinck—Used Y-DNA testing to prove that the American Duerinck’s were related to the Belgium Dierick’s. The Duerinck website also has lots of excellent information on using Y-DNA testing and interpreting the results. See website: http://www.duerinck.com/results.html for more details.

Howery/Hauri—For years there that been assumptions that the German Hauri family and the Swiss Howery families might or might not be related. For various reasons in the 20th century the families in fact believed that they were not related to each other. A simple Y-DNA test with just 1 member from each family surname group yielded a perfect match and confirmed that they were in fact related to each other, because they in fact matched perfectly on all markers. Years of questions put to rest in 6 weeks of DNA testing. See website: http://www.biotechshares.com/DNA%20Story.htm for more details.

Melungeon—Current studies are underway to attempt to decipher the exact background of the Melungeon, a group of people that are alleged to have inhabited the Tennessee Valley of the Appalachian Mountains for about 400 years. Their exact background and origin is not known with certainty. Also who are and are not Melungeon descendants is not known with certainty. It is reported by some that the people who became known as the Melungeon came to the New World from somewhere in the Mediterranean or Europe before the English settlements in Virginia. Some researchers also state that early English explorers discovered them living in the Tennessee Valley of the Appalachian Mountains around 1654. See website: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mtnties/definition.html for more details.

Sorenson Foundation Molecular Genealogy Research Project (MGRP)—The goal of the MGRP is to build a database of genetic markers that will, in the future, be used to answer genealogical questions that cannot be answered using normal genealogical research methods. The Project plans to collect 100,000 samples from people around the world. The samples will be analyzed and the results will be related to the four-generation pedigree chart submitted with each sample. These 100,000 individual samples will be organized into approximately 500 population subgroups. At some time, several years, in the future a person will be able to submit a DNA sample for analysis and comparison to this large database to determine the probable geographic location of your genetic ancestry based on the similarities in your genetic markers when compared to the genetic markers of the 500 population subgroups. See website: http://molecular-genealogy.byu.edu for more details. Note: The dash in the website address is a needed part of the website address.

PA Deutsch Ethnic Group DNA Project—Hypothesis: That a significant percentage of people, or sub-groups, within the Pennsylvania Deutsch/German (aka PA Dutch) ethnic group may have a significant average percentage, but not dominant percentage, of Asian genetic content in their genome, of non-recent origin in a genealogist's time frame, possibly harbored in their genome from the major invasions of southern Germany by tribes from Asia such as the Huns and Mongol hordes which invaded Europe at various times during the period of 1600-700 years ago, or of even older more ancient origin. Data collected by this project, and subsequent analysis, will attempt to prove or disprove this hypothesis and/or will be used to try and get an anthropologist or population geneticist to look at this possible "discovery" about the PA Deutsch in greater detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Note: I have chosen FamilyTreeDNA.com as my testing service company for my Kerchner

Y-DNA Project but similar procedures and results can be achieved with other companies.

Here are some FAQ questions and answers they provided me to share with you.

When should I use genetic testing services?

When you want prove or disprove a surmised genealogical relationship which you are unable to resolve with existing historical and genealogical evidence. You may also decide to use genetic testing to scientifically confirm the known genealogical relationship between distant cousin branches as a further proof of the relationship and the validity of your research. You may also wish to contribute your DNA sample to the various DNA database libraries to build the library of known DNA marker profiles to potentially help others and using the principle of serendipity that someone, someday, somewhere will match your profile and you will find new previously unknown cousins. Used in conjunction with existing genealogical records, DNA testing helps you fill in the gaps in proving or disproving assertions where little or no written historical records or other traditional genealogical evidence exists to support the assertions. As an example, DNA testing can determine and prove descent from your father's father’s father or your mother's mother’s mother. That means in the case of an individual's great-grandparent's generation, we can determine and prove a link to two of your eight great-grandparents, and so on back into time along the direct male and direct female lines. You can, however, also determine some other type family links by obtaining DNA samples from your male and female cousins. Contact www.FamilyTreeDNA.com for more details on exactly what genealogical information can and cannot be determined by testing samples from various individuals in your tree.

What steps does Family Tree DNA take to keep my results confidential?

Your privacy is assured because the testing facility will not have access to your name. Only your unique Kit ID number will accompany your collection tube to the testing lab. The computer-generated number is the only information about you that the testing facility will see. Once your test has been completed, the results will be entered in a secure non-web-based database, and the lab will inform us of any matches between two coded numbers. The information placed in FTDNA’s Surnames Database Library will only display your last name on their web site. However, if you authorize it and sign the release form, you can have your contact name and email address displayed for those who exactly or closely match your test results so they can contact you. No other specific information about you will be available at the web site.

Suppose I have a distant cousin in another country and we both send our specimens separately, how will you know that we want to confirm our family connections?

Unless you ordered together or sent in your samples together the testing company wouldn't know that you wanted to share results with each other. However sharing results is not a problem if you sign the simple release form included with every test kit. When the release form is signed FTDNA can then automatically release specific contact information to you and other people who have an exact match to you. If you are specifically testing with another individual, just send FamilyTreeDNA.com an email after you place your order notifying them of that fact.

I am researching a family with many distinct branches. How many people from each branch should I use?

This is an important and very practical question that speaks to the heart of genealogical testing and research. The chance that a match does not exist due to infidelity or unreported adoptions occurs 2%-5% of the time per generation. For families trying to do family reconstruction, it is prudent to test at least 2 different known male cousins from each different branch. In cases of unexpected results, FTDNA will retest you at no charge to confirm that a lab error is not an issue.

Does the genetic marker analysis shows that I may carry a problematic gene, and if so, will I be informed?

No your the genealogical DNA test would not show that information and thus you could not be informed since medically related information is not revealed by genealogical DNA testing. The testing lab would not know you show positive for a genetic disease, as the lab is only testing your DNA and looking at 12-25 specific loci on the Y Chromosome, or in the case of the mtDNA, the markers associated with that test, which are located at different positions on your DNA molecule than where the known disease related genes are located.

Will I have the right to remove my genetic profile from the database at some later time?

Yes. Similar to an email list, if you decide that you want your data deleted from the database, you email FamilyTreeDNA.com, they will look up you ID number, and delete it from the Database. It is a good idea to write down where you can find it, the ID number and sample code of your test kit for convenient future reference.

How is the test performed?

You do the test yourself in your home. No blood is used. Your genetic test kit consists of two cheek scrapers and collection tubes. In about five minutes, you will be able to read the instructions and perform the painless inner cheek scraping. The effect of using the scraper is about the same as brushing your cheek with a soft bristle toothbrush. The second scraper and tube is included so you may take two samples to insure that a good sample is obtained by our lab. You should always use both scrapers and submit the two samples. You also need to sign the simple release form enclosed with the kit if you wish to share your results with their database and/or a surname project coordinator.

How much do these tests offered by Family Tree DNA cost?

The “Paternal 25 Marker Match” (using Y-DNA) is priced at $229 each. A lower cost “Paternal 12 Marker Match” (using Y-DNA) is priced at $159. But the 25 marker test is recommended since it provides more information and precision when comparing individual’s results. The "Maternal Match" (using mtDNA) is priced at $219 each. Also offered is a combined 25 Marker Y-DNA and mtDNA “Relative Match" which combines both tests above (for males who want to test both their father’s, father’s, father’s Y-DNA lineage and their mother's, mother’s, mother’s mtDNA lineage). The Relative Match is $319 and is worth considering.

FTDNA’s also has specialized tests for Native Americans, and are available for either the female or male side. They are designed to tell you from which immigration to the new world your male or female Native American family progenitor arrived. To successfully take this test your lines of descent must be female to female to female (or male to male to male) all the way back to the person who was known to be 100% of Native Ancestry. Contact FamilyTreeDNA.com for prices on the Native American tests.

Also offered is the world’s only "Cohanim" test for males of Jewish lineage. Contact FamilyTreeDNA.com for prices on the Cohanim tests for Jewish lineage.

Also recently offered is a DNA Print test which provides the percentage of geographic origin of all the DNA in your blood line broken down into four continental population groups: Indo-European, East Asian, African-subSaharan, and Native American.

Price are dropping over time. For more information about latest prices and specific tests visit the Family Tree DNA company website at: http://www.familytreedna.com .

Suggested Reading

Reflections of Our Past: How Human History is Revealed in Our Genes,

by John H. Relethford

The Seven Daughters of Eve, by Bryan Sykes

Function of the Human Body, 4th Edition, by Arthur Guyton, M.D.

How to DNA Test Our Family Relationships?, by Carmichael & Kuklin

DNA For Family Historians, by Alan Savin (excellent for beginners)

The www.FamilyTreeDNA.com website. Lots of good information.

The above books can be ordered via links in my Kerchner Y-DNA and DNA-Info websites:

http://www.kerchner.com/kerchdna.htm
http://www.kerchner.com/dna-info.htm