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Monday, September 01, 2008

Genes and Geography

 
Your DNA tells you who you are related to. This has led to projects that can trace your ancestors. Your DNA can also tell you where you've come from. This is because most of our ancestors didn't get out much. They tended to marry their cousins and close neighbors. Over many generations the people in a particular region came to resemble each other much more closely than they resembled people in other countries.

Razib at Gene Expression has been discussing the evolutionary implications of this kind of population genetics. See his latest posting and learn how to interpret the map shown below [Genetic map of Europe; genes vary as a function of distance].






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