WIKIMEDIA, BAMSEAnalyzing 225 human genome sequences from individuals of African and non-African ethnicities, a team led by investigators at the University of Cambridge uncovered evidence in support of the theory that ancient humans migrated out of Africa moving north along the Nile through Egypt. The results were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics this week (May 27).
“This paper goes much further beyond any of the other prior genetic studies in really trying to address this question [of route],” said human evolutionary geneticist Brenna Henn of Stony Brook University in New York who was not involved in the work.
“ . . . They’ve made a good demonstration here that present day Egyptian samples look closest to the out-of-Africa [Eurasian] people of today compared with Ethiopian samples,” Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London who did not participate in the study told The Scientist.
WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE, JENNIFER HUGHESScientists have identified a variety of genes lost from the Y chromosome that have turned up on autosomes across eight mammalian species. In an analysis published in Genome Biology this week (May 28), the MIT-led team considered the possibility that these genes were transferred in relocation events.
“This is an interesting story. It’s remarkable to see how consistently ...
