Native Americans Are Descended From A Single Ancestral Group DNA Proves

Question

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 evidence supports the single ancestral population theory.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090428223836.htm

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Comments

I'm not thoroughly convinced yet.  I read a study a few years back that suggested that there was cross-mixing back to Asia, specifically that some populations in Japan and China had genes that were supposed to be purely North American.  

To wit: one family line (in-laws) that I am researching have a clear paper trail back to Mongol/Tatar lines in central Asia.  Weren't we surprised when the autosomal DNA test said < 2% of Native American DNA.  Either Pocohontas canoed back over the Pacific and her children mated with the descendants of Ghengis Khan or the researchers haven't quite figured out what they think they've figured out.

They make a good argument for the 9 repeat allele but I won't be surprised if this theory gets turned on its head back and forth a half dozen times over the next 20 years.

Interesting article and I enjoyed reading it - thanks for sharing!

edit: typo

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Thanks for the article Rose!!!    Now I'll have to refresh my memory on the "Clovis People" in Montana .... who used spear heads influenced by European design.   https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/ancient-dna-confirms-native-americans-deep-roots-north-and-south-america

But I agree with SJ,   this is an exciting field of study that will likely have new theories surfacing for decades.

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I like that the tagline, "Your source for the latest research news," was also copied-in considering the research paper this was based on is rapidly approaching its 11th birthday next February. And that the actual sequencing on the samples used was done between 2000 (Smith et al.) and 2006 (Schroeder et al.).

In fact, the latter paper, published in 2007 by the same lead researcher, Kari Schroeder, was also focused on the 9-repeat D9S1120 and Native American and Western Beringian populations. Interestingly, the 2007 paper states that they found the allele "at an average frequency of 31.7%" in those populations. The 2009 paper states, "The 9-repeat allele is present at an average frequency of 35.4%." Pretty similar findings that the marker appears about a third of the time. The 2007 paper reads:

"Genetic studies have not produced a consensus on the number of migrations into the Americas; we suggest this is because the number of migrations cannot be inferred from genetic data. Migrations may have occurred that have not significantly influenced the current distribution of genetic variation."

Doesn't rule out a single founder population, but I find the juxtaposition between the two papers--and the headline Science Daily extracted from the 2009 paper--interesting.

For those interested in the subject, I'd suggest this is useful background but that they should be researching much newer studies for recent information. After all, at the pace of DNA technology even the icons of population and evolutionary genetics like Luigi Cavalli-Sforza (who passed away August 2018...I need to look for a WikiTree profile; think the Spencer Wells book and 2003 documentary movie, The Journey of Man), can be proven mostly wrong in less than two decades time.

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And while the DNA studies are interesting, Native American tribes have their own preferred origin stories.

Answer 1

Very interesting.  Thanks for sharing.

Answer 2

This is interesting but the paper is dated 2009. So much has been discovered in the last ten years!