GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Finnish records in Y-STR database [alcoholism]
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 13:43:08 EDT

In a message dated 10/01/02 3:14:02 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:


> I contacted 'Ricky' Kittles recently to see which Y-haplotypes were
> indicative of alcoholism, but he'd changed his mind. It seemed to me
> that a non-coding gene shouldn't have an effect on how one's
> digestive system absorbs alcohol.

True enough, but the non-coding regions are inherited in the same package as
the coding regions (what I would call genes). If a mutation occurs in a gene
on the Y chromosome (and the man remains fertile), then his descendants will
inherit his DYS haplotype as well as the mutation.

This means mutations could be found in a higher concentration in some
haplotypes than others -- in other words, the "odds ratio" will be higher.
Now I've never really been comfortable with the statistics of odds ratios,
and the question remains whether there are any "interesting" genes on the Y
chromosome (sorry, guys!), but it's not absurd to look at Y haplotypes. In
fact, I have a paper on my reading list about longevity and Y haplotypes.

Ann Turner
GENEALOGY-DNA List Administrator
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/GENEALOGY-DNA.html
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