Study links DNA of Native and Siberian populations

Wednesday, February 14, 2007  

Native people from North and South America share the same DNA sequence as two indigenous populations in eastern Siberia, according to a new study published in Biology Letters.

Researchers at the University of California in Davis found a series of nine repeating chunks of DNA, known as 9RA, in all the populations tested. They included Natives in Alaska, Greenland, the Southwest, Central America and South America.

The same sequence appeared in two groups in eastern Siberia but not in other groups in Asia or Russia. That suggests the 9RA mutation occurred among people in eastern Siberia, who might have traveled across the Bering Strait to the Americas, according to the researchers.

Get the Story:
Native American populations share gene signature (NewScientist.com 2/14)

Relevant Links:
Genographic Project - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic

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