Graham Koop, assistant professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, and Davis and Peter Ralph, assistant professors in Molecular and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California conducted a survey that was published in the magazine PLoS Biology, according to Nature.
In the survey, genetic material from more than 2,200 Europeans who belong to 40 different populations was compared. The survey showed that residents of Europe are closely connected to each other, which is an important fact in the study of European history.
From the Balkans, the Eastern edge of Europe, to Ireland, the Western edge, Europeans comprise a big family with biological bonds due to their common ancestors who lived 1,000 years ago, according to a new genetic analysis of Europeans’ DNA from all around the Old Continent. The genetic research showed that concerning populations living within a big distance from each other, as British and Turks for example, the degree of genetic kinship between them tends to be lower. However, two individuals living at the two edges of the European continent are genetically connected to each other through their ancestors’ relationships in the past.
Few local differences due to migrations, as well as geographical obstacles, such as mountain ranges or cultural barriers, such as different languages, have reduced Europeans’ genetic kinship, without eliminating it.
Graham Koop and his partners clarified that, although genetics sheds light on history, it is not capable of fully illuminating the historical past, for which archeology and linguistics are needed.
The original scientific paper can be found on:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001555
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