Latest Human genetic variation Stories

International effort is the first genome-scale analysis of diverse Indian groupsIn a study published in the September 24th issue of Nature, an international team describes how they harnessed modern genomic technology to explore the ancient history of India, the world's second most populous nation.The new research reveals that nearly all Indians carry genomic contributions from two distinct ancestral populations. Following this ancient mixture, many groups experienced periods of genetic...

Numbers can vary from person to personA newly designed computational method has proven its usefulness in counting copies of duplicated genome sequences and in doing initial assessments of their contents, according to a study to be published Aug. 30 in Nature Genetics. The number of copies of particular DNA segments can differ from one person to the next.The researchers named their method mrFAST, an acronym for micro-read Fast Alignment Search Tool. The study is titled, "Personalized Copy...

New method may help in efforts to pinpoint disease-causing genesIn a pioneering effort that generated massive amounts of DNA sequence data from 12 people, a team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has demonstrated the feasibility and value of a new strategy for identifying relatively rare genetic variants that may cause or contribute to disease. The proof-of-concept findings were published online today in the journal Nature.The new strategy involves isolating and sequencing...

At one time or another most of us wonder where we came from, where our parents or grandparents and their parents came from.  Did our ancestors come from Europe or Asia?  As curious as we are about our ancestors, for practical purposes, we need to think about the ancestry of our genes, according to Cecil Lewis, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma.  Lewis says our genetic ancestry influences the genetic traits that predispose us to risk or resistance to...

Through sophisticated statistical analyses and advanced computer simulations, researchers are learning more about the genomic patterns of human population structure around the world.Revealing such patterns provides insights into the history of human evolution, the predominant evolutionary forces that shaped local populations, and the relationships among populations."Studying genomic patterns of human population structure also has practical applications in disease-gene mapping,"...

Cornell University scientists have created a computer program that examines small differences in people's genes to identify big events in human history. The researchers said their program can pinpoint the origins of specific gene mutations, shedding light on times when the human population moved close to extinction and helping scientists study gene mutations that make some demographic groups more likely to develop diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. We know that many...

A 10-year study of African population genetics has determined the continent is the most genetically diverse in the world, researchers said Thursday. The team headed by Sara Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania, determined that modern humans evolved in southern Africa on the border between Namibia and South Africa. They left the continent by way of East Africa at about the midpoint in the Red Sea. The research team collected data from 14 African populations, four...

An international team of researchers has reported the largest-ever study of genetics in Africa that helps pinpoint where human evolution began.The 10-year study combined efforts from African, American, and European researchers who studied 121 African populations, four African American populations and 60 non-African populations to uncover more than four million genotypes.Teams were looking for patterns of variation at 1327 DNA markers. They discovered that about 71 percent of the African...

For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations.Now, after painstakingly comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of scientists thinks it can put the matter to rest: Virtually without exception the new...

U.S. researchers say data from the Human Genome Project are shedding new light on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Over the ages we cataloged the anatomical differences between people and eventually biochemical differences, too. Now we can get down to the molecular differences, Carlos D. Bustamante, a professor of computational biology at Cornell University, told The Washington Post. Researchers said many common health problems -- such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure -- may...