Similarities between Diverse Populations

[Guest guest]

News

December 20, 2002

 

Genetic Study Reveals Similarities between Diverse Populations

 

Though they may speak different languages and eat distinct foods, people from

far-flung geographical locations are genetically very similar, researchers

say. A report published today in the journal Science suggests that 93 to 95

percent of human genetic variation exists among individuals within populations,

while differences among major groups make up less than 5 percent of the

variation. But the findings also reveal that even these tiny differences alone

can

provide enough information to group people by population. Marcus W. Feldman of

Stanford University and his colleagues analyzed samples from 1,056 people

belonging to 52 populations. Specifically, they looked at 377 so-called

microsatellites, short segments of DNA that occur in specific patterns. " Each

microsatellite had between four and 32 distinct types, " Feldman says. " Most were

found in

people from several continents, suggesting that only a tiny fraction of

genetic traits are distinctive to specific populations. This means that visible

differences between human groups--such as skin color and skull shape--result

from

differences in a very small proportion of genetic traits. " --Sarah Graham

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

93 to 95

percent of human genetic variation exists among individuals within populations

>>>>I thought the difference between man and monkey is only 2-3%

Alon

 

 

[Guest guest]

93 to 95 percent of human genetic variation exists among individuals within

populations

>>>>I thought the difference between man and monkey is only 2-3%

Alon

 

Hi Alon,

 

Righto. The recent Genome Project notes that there is not enough genetic

variation between groups of people to lay a genetic claim for " race " . There is

more genetic variation within each group than there is between the groups. Even

more intriguing is that there is no " group " for us white skinned Europeans. We

are about 35% genetically African and 65% genetically Asian. We're some sort of

little whirling eddy of population drift that veered off from the human march

from Egypt to the Asian continent. Our car slipped off the road during that bad

Ice Age well over 11,000 years ago. We ended up in that field called Europe.

Anyway the little bits of variation between groups mainly centers around skin

color and other superficial features. Where there is less sunlight, you have to

lose some melanin so as to make more vitamin D so as to uptake more calcium from

the gut. At least that's the theory. I'd have to look up the scientist's name

at Stanford University (a Hispanic gentleman) who led the Genetic Diversity

portion of the Genome Project. There was an article about him in Time magazine

in the mid-1990s that I copied for my students (most of whom are African

American, Hispanic and Asian) at the time. I've got it somewhere and will look

it up. Australian natives are genetically downstream from Asians, so they

regained their rich melanin skin color.

 

Emmanuel Segmen

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Wonder where the car with 2 africans and one asian slipped of to?

 

Holger

 

Från: " Emmanuel Segmen " <susegmen

Svara till: Chinese Medicine

Datum: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 14:01:45 -0700

Till: <Chinese Medicine >

Ämne: Re: Similarities between Diverse Populations

 

 

93 to 95 percent of human genetic variation exists among individuals within

populations

>>>>I thought the difference between man and monkey is only 2-3%

Alon

 

Hi Alon,

 

Righto. The recent Genome Project notes that there is not enough genetic

variation between groups of people to lay a genetic claim for " race " . There

is more genetic variation within each group than there is between the

groups. Even more intriguing is that there is no " group " for us white

skinned Europeans. We are about 35% genetically African and 65% genetically

Asian. We're some sort of little whirling eddy of population drift that

veered off from the human march from Egypt to the Asian continent. Our car

slipped off the road during that bad Ice Age well over 11,000 years ago. We

ended up in that field called Europe. Anyway the little bits of variation

between groups mainly centers around skin color and other superficial

features. Where there is less sunlight, you have to lose some melanin so as

to make more vitamin D so as to uptake more calcium from the gut. At least

that's the theory. I'd have to look up the scientist's name at Stanford

University (a Hispanic gentleman) who led the Genetic Diversity portion of

the Genome Project. There was an article about him in Time magazine in the

mid-1990s that I copied for my students (most of whom are African American,

Hispanic and Asian) at the time. I've got it somewhere and will look it up.

Australian natives are genetically downstream from Asians, so they regained

their rich melanin skin color.

 

Emmanuel Segmen

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

We

ended up in that field called Europe. Anyway the little bits of variation

between groups mainly centers around skin color and other superficial

features.

>>>At the same time lets not forget that it can take a tiny difference in one

enzyme or one protein to make huge clinical differences

Alon