GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-01 > 1074386524


From: Mike Humphrey <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] More on French study
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2004 16:42:13 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <4009C749.1090606@comcast.net>


Bonnie ...

Yes, by all means, post the table of Haplogroup frequencies to your website.
I'd really like to see it! I'm definitely interested in Norman mtDNA as well
as the Y-chromosome.

Mike ...
=======================================================

--- Bonnie Schrack <> wrote:
> Here is the abstract of this excellent new paper:
>
> >
> >
> > Eur J Hum Genet. 2003 Dec 24 [Epub ahead of print]
> >
> > mtDNA polymorphisms in five French groups: importance of regional
> > sampling.
> >
> > Dubut V, Chollet L, Murail P, Cartault F, Beraud-Colomb E, Serre
> > M, Mogentale-Profizi N.
> >
> > Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Populations du Passe, UMR 5809
> > CNRS, Avenue des Facultes, Universite Bordeaux 1, 33405 Talence
> > cedex, France.
> >
> > According to classical markers, France has been reported to be
> > regionally heterogeneous. Here, we propose to test the homogeneity
> > of the French mitochondrial gene pool by analysing D-Loop and
> > coding regions polymorphisms in 210 individuals stemming from five
> > regions. The data set obtained was also used to test the ability
> > of mitochondrial DNA to detect well historically established
> > admixtures (admixtures between British/Irish people and native
> > Breton people in our case). For these purposes, the sampling
> > procedure was subject to special care, concerning the individuals'
> > geographical origin and maternal pedigree. The mtDNA analysis
> > revealed some regional specificities in haplogroup distribution,
> > which is discussed in terms of successive settlements of France.
> > Statistical analyses were conducted to investigate mtDNA diversity
> > and structure within and between British, Irish and French groups.
> > They tended to show affinities between Morbihan region and Britain
> > plus Ireland. Furthermore, genetic evidences were in line with the
> > fact that Morbihan region results from an admixture event,
> > agreeing with historical evidences of successive migrations from
> > Britain and Ireland into Brittany. These results also tended to
> > outline the fact that two geographically very adjacent samples
> > (Morbihan and Finistere), sharing a cultural and linguistic area,
> > can present a distinct genetic pattern. Although mtDNA analyses
> > were able to identify a historically reported admixture event, we
> > point out here the high influence of the sampling procedure and
> > representativeness over the migrations hypothesis. We also
> > underline the importance of regional sampling for studies on the
> > spread and/or origin of specific European haplogroups (here U5a1a
> > and U8).European Journal of Human Genetics advance online
> > publication, 24 December 2003; doi:10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201145
> >
> > PMID: 14694359 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
> >
>
> Here are some excerpts:
>
> > Introduction
> > The mitochondrial DNA has revealed to be a useful tool for
> > studying the human settlement of different European
> > regions, as well as for studying population migrations
> > inside the subcontinent.
> > Nevertheless, the successive
> > Europe settlements have often been deduced from imprecise
> > samples, usually collected from geographically
> > broad regions, without taking into account regional
> > diversities. This is particularly the case for the French
> > regions that our paper deals with. The French territory is
> > centrally located in Western Europe: particularly, it links
> > Northern Europe to the Mediterranean and Iberian areas.
>
> > . . . Nevertheless, the French mitochondrial gene pool remains
> > poorly described and has almost solely been explored with
> > a forensic point of view.
>
> > In this way, although previous
> > studies concerned relatively numerous individuals (n=185
> > in all), those were not regionally localised, and were only
> > surveyed for polymorphisms in their D-Loop. Also, diagnostic
> > RFLPs from coding regions were neglected, albeit
> > crucial for haplogroup discussion. These lacking elements
> > make these published data difficult to be used for further
> > studies of the human settlements of France. Moreover, this
> > lacking information could represent a potential distorting
> > factor in research on the settlement of Europe, especially
> > considering that studies of blood genetic markers have
> > revealed a great inter-regional variability of French populations,
> > and complex migratory Prehistory and History.
>
> > Subjects and sampling procedure
> > Our sample consisted of 210 maternally unrelated volunteers,
> > originating from five French locations (Figure 1). The
> > sampled area in each region was about 2000 square km.
> > Most of the selected subjects were born in the first part of the 20th
> > century, and pedigree investigations were conducted over
> > the last three (for about 50% of the subjects) or more
> > generations to confirm the regional maternal origin of
> > sampled individuals.
>
> > Figure 1 Localisation of the analysed samples. Our
> > samples include individuals from the central 'department'
> > of Var (VR, n =37), the region of Perigord-Limousin (PL,
> > n =72) straddling three western-central 'departments'
> > (northern Dordogne, western Corre`ze and southern
> > Haute-Vienne), the regions of Caux and Bray located in
> > Normandy (CB, n =39) and the 'departments' of Morbihan
> > (BM, n =40) and Finiste `re (BF, n =22), both located in
> > Brittany. Previously published data were also included in
> > the analyses, and they concern 139 individuals from
> > England (ENG), 70 individuals from Wales (WA), 50
> > individuals from Cornwall (CNW), 101 individuals from
> > western Ireland (IRL), 47 individuals from north-eastern
>
> > France (NEF) and 185 French individuals who remain
> > regionally unlocalised (FRA).
>
> _______________________
>
> So, all of you with Norman descent, here's a chance to get to know the
> maternal picture for that region.
>
> They were particularly interested in their two samples from Brittany.
> One of them showed clear evidence of the Irish & British admixture
> known from history, and the other didn't. This, they said, showed how
> important it is to sample from many locations (and not just pool them
> together.)
>
> They found a high Neolithic profile in the Perigord area, which was part
> of the great refuge during the Ice Age, but they said that apparently
> its Paleolithic heritage has been obscured by the number of Neolithic
> immigrants there. I bet it had a great climate for farming!
>
> And they were surprised not to find more Neolithic ancestry in the Var
> region on the Mediterranean coast, where it would have been expected.
>
> I could post the main table of haplogroup frequencies by region on my
> website, if anyone is interested -- let me know.
>
> They do mention at the end that it would be a great idea for someone to
> do a similar study with Y DNA!
>
> Maybe one of you who wants that French Y DNA data could write to the
> main author, Vincent Dubut, and ask whether he knows of anything that's
> in the works?
>
> Bonnie
>
>
>
>
>
> ==============================
> Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration
> Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more.
> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237
>


=====
Mike Humphrey Trombonist & HPC Computer Scientist
650 345-7108

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus

This thread: