DNA Genealogy?.....

[sheilajim]

Hi Everyone!

In this mornings Orange Country Register, there is a column taken from the New York Times. It states that a person in Florida named Tom Robinson sent a cheek swab, to Oxford Ancestors, a DNA Genealogy Company, and soon received a reply that he was a descendant of Genghis Khan, the 13th Century Mongul Emperor.

I thought that it was very thoughtful of Genghis Khan, to leave some DNA samples, for posible future Genealogists.

Reading further the column stated that scientists noted that there is a distinctive signature,the Y chromosome, of men living within the borders of the fomer Mongol empire, and have decided that this distinctive chromosone, must have arisen in Ghengis Khan, therefore any man with this particular chromosome is one of his many decendants.

It doesn't seemed to have occurred to these "scientists" at Oxford Ancestors, that the gene could have been from Joe the goat herder, or that this particular Y chromosome was common in the general population, way before the birth of Genghis Khan.

Has anybody in this forum used on of these DNA Genealogists? If so, what do they think of it?

Regards

Sheila

Researching: McDonald, Morin, Dunns, Key, McNab in Stirlingshire. Kennedy, Boyd, Veiny/McVeany, McKee, McLaren, Jamieson, in Refrewshire and Ulster.

[nelmit]

Hello Sheila,

Sorry, I haven't been involved in any DNA projects but just wanted to say thanks for the chuckle.

Kind regards,
Annette M

[David Douglas]

I gave my father a mitochondrial i.e. maternal DNA test for his 70th birthday.

Since the rate of mutation of mitochondrial genes is pretty constant, and these genes come from the mother only (i.e, no mixing in each generation), it's possible to determine roughly when individuals with diverging DNA profiles most recently had a common maternal ancestor. This is fairly straightforward science. You can also make guesses about where that common ancestor lived, based on the current distribution of descendants. Obviously, this is more speculative.

The same applies to Y chromosomes (although the research on this is slightly more recent than the mitochondrial DNA, and I get the impression that the Y chromosome mutates at a less constant rate, implying greater uncertainty).

If a man around the time of Genghis Khan managed to father thousands of children, then we can assume he had very high status. Some of his sons would also have high status, and would in turn have had the opportunity to father many children.

If the distribution of these descendents (only the male line can be traced) follows the path of his conquests, I think you'd find it difficult to suggest an alternative candidate.

See the Wikipedia artilce, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gengis_Khan

It mentions a claim that the late Queen Mother could (maybe) trace him as one of her ancestors (but DNA wouldn't help here - again, only the direct male, or direct female line can be traced).

In fact, almost everyone with European ancestry is bound to have him as an ancestor among the hundreds of millions of ancestors each of us has that far back.

[DavidWW]

The Genghis Khan story seems to derive from a 2003 article in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... nghis.html

And http://www.ox.ac.uk/blueprint/2002-03/2003/15.shtml , - closing para from the latter "However, the geneticists' evidence for the link to Genghis Khan is necessarily indirect; the ruler was buried secretly and neither his tomb nor any remains have been found. The research has been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics earlier this year."

Coincidentally, my send-me-to-sleep-book on this trip is John Man's "Genghis Khan - Life Death and Resurrection" which refers to this in the introduction.

David
49th ggrandson of Shuggie the Goat Turd Collector (makes a rer fuel when dried!)

[SarahND]

Interestingly enough, I had forwarded the article a few days ago to a colleague of mine who has written a book on Genghis Khan and has done a lot of field work in Mongolia. This was his response:

This project is interesting, but I think that these people are descended
from the royal clan, but I doubt that many are from Genghis Khan. The
male line was reduced to only one boy by 1460, but there were many
descendants of Genghis Khan's brother as well as a large number of male
cousins and other relatives. The children and descendants of Genghis
Khan himself were recorded with great precision, and the idea that
Genghis Khan raped is sheer nonsense. In their view, they considered
their lineage much too precious to throw away in such a manner. This
story of Mongol raping white women is well established. In the
twentieth century it was used to explain the presence of "Mongoloid"
children among whites, and now it is used for the genetic pool of men
with an ancestor from the Mongolian plateau.

I find it interesting this this professor is the first white to be
linked in this way. I find that as good evidence against the rape myth.

[Russell]

Couldn't resist it Sarah
but it sounds like DavidWW relative did a lot of 'field work' too

Russell

Had to explain to my colleagues in the office why I was splitting my sides with laughter

[SarahND]

Couldn't resist it Sarah
but it sounds like DavidWW relative did a lot of 'field work' too

And arguably of a more useful sort also!

Sarah