[NetBehaviour] The Genetic Map of Europe.

[marc garrett]

The Genetic Map of Europe.

By NICHOLAS WADE (NY Times).

Biologists have constructed a genetic map of Europe showing the degree 
of relatedness between its various populations.

All the populations are quite similar, but the differences are 
sufficient that it should be possible to devise a forensic test to tell 
which country in Europe an individual probably comes from, said Manfred 
Kayser, a geneticist at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the 
Netherlands.

The map shows, at right, the location in Europe where each of the 
sampled populations live and, at left, the genetic relationship between 
these 23 populations. The map was constructed by Dr. Kayser, Dr. Oscar 
Lao and others, and appears in an article in Current Biology published 
on line on August 7.

The genetic map of Europe bears a clear structural similarity to the 
geographic map. The major genetic differences are between populations of 
the north and south (the vertical axis of the map shows north-south 
differences, the horizontal axis those of east-west). The area assigned 
to each population reflects the amount of genetic variation in it.

Europe has been colonized three times in the distant past, always from 
the south. Some 45,000 years ago the first modern humans entered Europe 
from the south. The glaciers returned around 20,000 years ago and the 
second colonization occurred about 17,000 years ago by people returning 
from southern refuges. The third invasion was that of farmers bringing 
the new agricultural technology from the Near East around 10,000 years ago.

The pattern of genetic differences among present day Europeans probably 
reflects the impact of these three ancient migrations, Dr. Kayser said.

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