My Genetic Journey

After a much anticipated wait of nearly five months, the results are finally in on my "genetic journey" -- or the journey my ancestors took.   This particular study, sponsored by The National Geographic, analyzes specific markers in the DNA and maps them to existing database of various lineages and migrations that have occurred in the past 60,000 years, originating in Africa.

I wanted to share the analysis of my DNA and other related data that I found quite interesting and curious:

• My lineage can be traced back to the "Eurasian Adam" who lived in Africa around 60,000 to 80,000 years ago.  His descendents migrated out of Africa on to the middle east and beyond towards Europe and Central Asia, taking both the east and west routes.  (Note: This was the only lineage known to survive beyond Africa.)
• There are two lines that trace more explicitly to India.  One directly from Africa to the southern part of the Indian peninsula and onwards to Burma and beyond.  The other through the Arabian peninsula and Iran.  Curiously, my lineage maps to a different one that migrated to central Asia and Siberia.  These people were also the eventual settlers of the New World (crossing the ancient land bridge of Beringia that connected Asia with North America).

With respect to the timelines, the migration of the descendents of Eurasian Adam related to the lineage to which my DNA mapped most conclusively progressed as follows:

• To North Africa and the Middle East 45,000 years ago
• To Central Asia and India around 40,000 years ago (This is the root of most of the Northern Hemisphere, i.e. most North Americans, East Asians, Europeans and Indians). 
• To Siberia and the North Americas some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago

I was both excited and disappointed by the results.  I expected much more precision than a lineage that dates back to 15,000 years ago (although not necessarily a zip code).  I am also quite surprised that my DNA maps more to the lineage that migrated to Siberia (marker M242) than to others (such as marker M9) that are much more explicitly connected to India (although they have common origins).  I would venture to guess that the reasons for this are potentially 1) a mistake in the analysis of the results, 2) lack of sufficient or conclusive data in my DNA markers, perhaps resulting from dilution, or 3) some migrations that occurred from Siberian peninsula towards India in the past 20,000 years that are not well known in this context.

In any case, I think this study is quite useful and valuable for the sake of Science as well as our learning.  The timing is also appropriate and critical since the gene pools are getting ever so diluted with the mixing of races that soon we will not be able to follow such clear paths to our ancestory.

I also believe that the clarity and precision of data and analysis will improve significantly as more people participate in this study and more data is collected.  To this end, the price of the kit ($100) is a significant barrier.  Still, I encourage all those who appreciate the value of this learning to participate in the study, if you can and share in the excitement of knowing a lot more about our roots.

-Sanjiva, Oct 28, 2005

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic

PS -- I have ordered additional kits to do the same analysis for my parents in the hope of discovering a consistency in the results. 

Finally, during the course of the DNA analysis, I was told that the initial results were inconclusive and further analysis was needed.  This further supports my theory that in our case, the DNA is likely too diluted relative to the data that is currently available for this research.

Comments

[Jordan]

Really, very interesting. I'm just about to order a kit today so I went looking for other bloggers who had any comments on results so I knew what to suspect.

I too would have hoped for finer granularity than 15,000 (it would have been great to at least get up to the common era!) but I suppose it is still all very interesting.

I know I belong to a group (Sephardic Jews) that have migrated into and out of the Middle East several times--my particular family lore has our genes marching across North Africa into Spain and then across Europe to Syria. I'd love to know if any of that is true.

I know there are _lots_ of lore surrounding the origin of various groups in India. I remember hearing people boast, "I am a descendant of Alexander the Great's troops!" Wouldn't it be neat to at least have anecdotal evidence. If for bragging rights and nothing else...

Jordan.