Comments on: The Origin of Farming in Europe: A View from the Y Chromosome http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/07/25/the-origin-of-farming-in-europe-a-view-from-the-y-chromosome/ A receptacle for genetic knowledge. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:51:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: royking http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/07/25/the-origin-of-farming-in-europe-a-view-from-the-y-chromosome/comment-page-1/#comment-771 royking Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:49:35 +0000 http://spittoon.23andme.com/?p=558#comment-771 Dear Ms. Schrack, Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You are indeed correct – according to tests we conducted in Dr. Peter Underhill’s laboratory at Stanford University, rs34126399G is equivalent to the DYS413 deletion that defines J2a1. Thus the map reflects both the distribution of the DYS413 deletion and rs34126399G. As I wrote in the blog, rs34126399G captures the circum-Mediterranean migration of the first farmers in Europe and the Near East. Those individuals who are J2a and ancestral at rs34126399, although less frequently present in European and Mid-Eastern populations, do constitute a fascinating subgroup whose population history remains to be determined. I want to express my appreciation to you and others who organize and analyze data from the Y-Haplogroup J Project. I view your important work as complementary to that of academic population genetic laboratories. In general, we have access to several populations and can discover new SNPs, but we lack access to the many YSTRs that your clientele is genotyped for. Like sophisticated detectives, you can discover possible YSTR patterns that push us to search for underlying SNPs that may encompass them. With companies like 23andMe, you can have rapid access to most of the posted and published YSNPs and garner more information complementary to your YSTR information. Your project, thus, pushes forward the horizon of knowledge about Y chromosome population history. Dear Ms. Schrack,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You are indeed correct – according to tests we conducted in Dr. Peter Underhill’s laboratory at Stanford University, rs34126399G is equivalent to the DYS413 deletion that defines J2a1. Thus the map reflects both the distribution of the DYS413 deletion and rs34126399G. As I wrote in the blog, rs34126399G captures the circum-Mediterranean migration of the first farmers in Europe and the Near East. Those individuals who are J2a and ancestral at rs34126399, although less frequently present in European and Mid-Eastern populations, do constitute a fascinating subgroup whose population history remains to be determined.

I want to express my appreciation to you and others who organize and analyze data from the Y-Haplogroup J Project. I view your important work as complementary to that of academic population genetic laboratories. In general, we have access to several populations and can discover new SNPs, but we lack access to the many YSTRs that your clientele is genotyped for. Like sophisticated detectives, you can discover possible YSTR patterns that push us to search for underlying SNPs that may encompass them. With companies like 23andMe, you can have rapid access to most of the posted and published YSNPs and garner more information complementary to your YSTR information. Your project, thus, pushes forward the horizon of knowledge about Y chromosome population history.

]]> By: Bschrack http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/07/25/the-origin-of-farming-in-europe-a-view-from-the-y-chromosome/comment-page-1/#comment-758 Bschrack Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:05:28 +0000 http://spittoon.23andme.com/?p=558#comment-758 Hi Dr. King, Bonnie Schrack here, of the Y-Haplogroup J Project, and I was just alerted to this fascinating posting by a fellow researcher on J2. Thanks for sharing the news! When you say rs34126399 is derived in most of J2a, what immediately springs to mind is that this SNP could be equivalent to the DYS413 deletion, defining J2a1. Do you think so? Your nice map, showing "the present-day distribution of rs34126399G," suggests that quite a few population samples have already been tested for this SNP. Or have you just discovered that all samples with DYS413≤18 that you've tested for rs34126399 have the G allele, and concluded that the maps showing the distribution of J2a1 are good for the SNP as well? If you have been able to test many population samples for rs34126399, I'll look forward very much to seeing an upcoming paper describing your findings! As you may have heard, there is already a SNP in testing as a probable equivalent of DYS413≤18, called S57, but the rs number hasn't been released. So far all samples tested for S57 show an exact equivalence to the DYS413 deletion. So it will be interesting to eventually discover the relationship between S57 and rs34126399. I'm also very interested in the small minority of J2a who do not belong to J2a1, and would be most interested in seeing any data you have gathered showing their distribution. I've been collecting their fascinating haplotypes for some time now. I hope that as more members of J2 are tested by 23andMe and similar companies, we'll be able to discover further significant SNPs. Please keep us posted! Hi Dr. King,

Bonnie Schrack here, of the Y-Haplogroup J Project, and I was just alerted to this fascinating posting by a fellow researcher on J2. Thanks for sharing the news! When you say rs34126399 is derived in most of J2a, what immediately springs to mind is that this SNP could be equivalent to the DYS413 deletion, defining J2a1. Do you think so?

Your nice map, showing “the present-day distribution of rs34126399G,” suggests that quite a few population samples have already been tested for this SNP. Or have you just discovered that all samples with DYS413≤18 that you’ve tested for rs34126399 have the G allele, and concluded that the maps showing the distribution of J2a1 are good for the SNP as well?

If you have been able to test many population samples for rs34126399, I’ll look forward very much to seeing an upcoming paper describing your findings!

As you may have heard, there is already a SNP in testing as a probable equivalent of DYS413≤18, called S57, but the rs number hasn’t been released. So far all samples tested for S57 show an exact equivalence to the DYS413 deletion. So it will be interesting to eventually discover the relationship between S57 and rs34126399.

I’m also very interested in the small minority of J2a who do not belong to J2a1, and would be most interested in seeing any data you have gathered showing their distribution. I’ve been collecting their fascinating haplotypes for some time now.

I hope that as more members of J2 are tested by 23andMe and similar companies, we’ll be able to discover further significant SNPs. Please keep us posted!

]]> By: Subho http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/07/25/the-origin-of-farming-in-europe-a-view-from-the-y-chromosome/comment-page-1/#comment-492 Subho Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:07:47 +0000 http://spittoon.23andme.com/?p=558#comment-492 The pattern of spread of agriculture in the Mediterranean is very interesting, although hardly surprising for three reasons. First, after last Ice age human as well as other animals started migrating out of Africa, along the Fertile Crescent into Europe and Asia; and the pattern exists for several undomesticated animals too. Second, the east-west spread of the plain provided favourable climate, and facilitated human to reproduce their newly developed skills of agriculture as they migrated. There are examples in other parts of the world (e.g. south America) where art of agriculture has been reinvented over and over again. Third, rapid deterioration of climate in sub-Saharan Africa and Arabian peninsula, and retreat of glaciation in Europe maintained a steady stream of migrating people, giving rise to the currently observed gradient. Such events, in combination favoured the spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent to the Mediterranean Europe. The pattern of spread of agriculture in the Mediterranean is very interesting, although hardly surprising for three reasons. First, after last Ice age human as well as other animals started migrating out of Africa, along the Fertile Crescent into Europe and Asia; and the pattern exists for several undomesticated animals too. Second, the east-west spread of the plain provided favourable climate, and facilitated human to reproduce their newly developed skills of agriculture as they migrated. There are examples in other parts of the world (e.g. south America) where art of agriculture has been reinvented over and over again. Third, rapid deterioration of climate in sub-Saharan Africa and Arabian peninsula, and retreat of glaciation in Europe maintained a steady stream of migrating people, giving rise to the currently observed gradient.

Such events, in combination favoured the spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent to the Mediterranean Europe.

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