Ethnicities
Disclaimer: Ancestry percentages obtained
with AncestryByDNA™ reports of genetic affiliations, not necessarily recent
genealogical histories they way you are accustomed to thinking of them. They
are anthropology-driven AND genealogy-driven - a 10% East Asian result for
a European population, or person, could have a very simple, genealogical
interpretation (i.e. recent ancestors were Chinese) or a more complex, anthropological
explanation (i.e.from an ethnic group with a historical connection to East
Asians). Please refer to the “Interpreting the Results” section
to understand how genetic affiliations arise in human populations and how
to responsibly interpret genome base population affiliation test results
such as those provided by AncestryByDNA™.
To evaluate the results we are finding with AncestryByDNA™,
we turn to the published literature on Y and mtDNA sequence diversity and
what they tell us about human migration events.
The Y and mtDNA represent only a fraction of the human genome,
and reading ancestry from Y and mtDNA haplotypes only tells 1/23rd the story
(since there are 23 chromosome pairs). However, these two chromosomes are
inherited from parents as single non-recombining units of DNA. This means
that their sequences are especially sensitive to the influences of genetic
drift and founder effects, and therefore are especially powerful tools for
tracing certain human migratory events as an alternative to fossil-based
records of pre-history.
If the low levels of affiliation we are seeing with AncestryByDNA™ is
real, others looking at Y-chromosome and mtDNA sequences should usually,
but not necessarily always, see the same thing (depending on whether the
affiliation was contributed by males, females or both). We also turn to other
affiliation studies on world populations that used larger numbers of less
powerful markers with different algorithms.
Work by other scientists that shows:
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A note on the minor levels of affiliation, their
systematic observance, and the error level for AncestryByDNA™.
When looking at a collection of individuals homogeneously affiliated with
one particular ethnic group we usually see that their profiles are more or
less similar in terms of groups and percentages. For example almost all Mediterranean
Europeans (Greeks, Italians) type with a low level of Native American and/or
African affiliation (usually with both but sometimes with one, about 5% for
each, on average).
The average levels of non-European affiliation we see for
ethnic groups on a population level is often close to or even below
the limit of sensitivity and reliability for an individual, the latter
of which is shown in the Accuracy and Precision section of this website.
For example, a European with 5% Native American affiliation can conclude
from our tables in Accuracy and Precision that the result indicates Native
American affiliation with less than 95% certainty (it would be about 80%
or so).
However that doesn’t mean that the 5% reading is not
useful, and in fact, if you were Greek you would expect a result in this
ballpark and most of your Greek friends would show similar results, such
that the score for the average Greek was about 5% Native American. That is
to say, the 5% Native American affiliation type, on a European background,
is systematically obtained for Greeks, meaning it is seen for most individuals
of this group. Other affiliation types on other backgrounds are characteristic
signatures for other ethnic groups. This section of the website is designed
to give you a feel for these signatures.
Regarding the relationship between low levels of affiliation
observed on a population scale and on an individual scale, the fact that
these characteristic, signature results are obtained systematically suggests
that they are not due to random statistical “noise”, which is
distributed among all types of affiliation, as shown in the Accuracy and
Precision section of the site.
In our example of Greeks, the error on the individual level
is the same in this group as any other European group as shown in the Accuracy
and Precision section of the site, but the average individual is of a positive
African and Native American affiliation level, so ancestry mixes due to true
affiliation and statistical uncertainty (noise) are distributed above and
below the mean for that group. Of course, the higher the mean level of group
X affiliation for the ethnic population, the more frequently the group X
affiliation will be observed and the average level could be 5% or so and
still be statistically significant (on a population level) even though a
reading of 5% in any one individual is not significant.
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African affiliation in Jews.
As can be seen with the triangle plots presented for the various ethnic groups
elsewhere on this site, the average Ashkenazi Jew types with a few percent
African affiliation, much like the average Mediterranean and average Middle
Easterner does. Other workers have used different genetic methodologies
to show the same thing:
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed that African Y chromosome haplotypes
are present in significant fraction of the Middle Eastern population.
See Figure UNDERHILL. This study did
not specifically address Jewish populations but many contemporary Jewish
populations including the Ashkenazim have been traced to a common Middle
Eastern source population existing several thousand years ago (Hammer
et al., 2002, Nebel et al. 2001, Thomas et al., 2002). So, by extrapolation,
we would expect similar frequencies of African Y-chromosome haplotypes
in Jews as we see for Middle Easterners
- Indeed, Baher et al., 2004 showed that the E Y-chromosome haplotype
is found not infrequently in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. The E haplotype
is also commonly found in Africa.
- Baher et al., 2004 showed that the mtDNA haplotypes L2, preHV, U7,
M1 and U1b constitute a minor (few percent) but significant percentage
of mtDNA haplotypes in Jews. These haplotypes appear to have Near Eastern/Mediterranean/African
origins.
- affiliation results using 300 odd autosomal STR markers and a different
algorithm from ours show extensive African affiliation for Middle Easterners
(Rosenberg et al, 2003, see Figure ROSENBERG,
Middle Eastern Columns for k=4). Since many contemporary Jewish populations
including Ashkenazim have been traced to a common Middle Eastern source
population existing several thousand years ago (Hammer et al., 2002,
Nebel et al. 2001, Thomas et al., 2002), this would suggest that by extrapolation,
Jews would harbor similar levels of African affiliation.
Evidence 1) – 4) support the data we are seeing with AncestryByDNA™ -
significant AFR affiliation for Jews on average (as well as Middle Easterners
and Mediterranean). This may be due to the geographical expansion of the
Moors into Europe, among other possible migrations from Africa before or
after.
Behar, D., D. Garrigan, M. Kaplan, Z. Mobasher, D. Rosengarten,
T. Karafet, L. Quintana-Murci, H. Ostrer, K. Skorecki and M. Hammer. 2004.
Contrasting patterns of Y chromosome variation in Ashkenazi Jewish and host
non-Jewish European populations. Hum Genet. 114: 354-365.
Behar, D., M. Hammer, B. Bonne-Tamir, M. Richards, R. Villems,
D. Rosengarten, M. Kaplan, S. Pergola, L. Quintana-Murci and K. Skorecki.
2004. Differential bottleneck effects in the mtDNA gene pool of Ashkenazi
Jewish populations. In press.
Hammer, MF, S. Zegura. 2002. The human Y chromosome haplogroup
tree: nomenclature and phylogeography of its major subdivisions. Annu Rev
Anthropol 31:303-321.
Nebel, A., D. Filon, B. Brinkmann, P. Majumder, M. Faerman.
2001 The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the
Middle East. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 69:1095-1112.
Thomas M., M. Weale, A. Jones, M. Richards, A. Smith, N. Rodhead,
A. Torroni, R. Scozzari, F. Gratrix, A. Tarekegn, J. Wilson, C. Capelli,
N. Bradman, D. Goldstein. 2002. Founding mothers of Jewish communities: geographically
separated Jewish groups were independently founded by very few female ancestors.
Am J Hum Genet 70:1411-1420.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd, L.
Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations. Science.
298: 2381-2385.
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon Lahr,
R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography of Y
chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
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Native American affiliation in Mediterranean Europeans.
Mediterranean Europeans show quite low, but significant levels of Native
American affiliation with AncestryByDNA™. Results from other work relevant
to this finding include:
- Reidla et al., 2003 showed that the mtDNA halogroup X2 is found not
infrequently in the Mediterranean and in Native Americans, but infrequently
in northern Europe, central Asia and Siberia. This haplotype appears
to have been derived from Paleolithic Near Eastern populations, branches
of which appear to have migrated to North America tens of thousands of
years ago. One of our customers has suggested to us that this was a different
migration than the one which brought the bulk of Native Americans' ancestors
from East Asia, since neither East Asians nor Siberians have X2 at appreciable
frequencies.
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed significant frequencies of Native American
Y chromosome haplotypes in Western/Central Asia, though Native American
Y chromosome haplotypes were not detected at significant frequencies
in Mediterraneans. This at least shows the presence of Native American
sequences in Western/Central Asia, which at first might seem as counterintuitive
as the presence of Native American sequences in Mediterranean Europeans.
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 did not detect significant Native American affiliation
for Sardinians, Tuscans or Italians (see Figure Rosenburg, k=4 row).
Given 1) and 2), it would appear that there is evidence
for maternal Native American contribution to modern day Mediterranean populations
but no real evidence for paternal Native American contribution. Given 3),
we might expect the NAM affiliation levels for Mediterraneans to be low (as
we find it to be), though possibly significant with an especially powerful
test such as AncestryByDNA™.
Reidla M, Kivisild T, Metspalu E, Kaldma K, Tambets K, Tolk
HV, Parik J, Loogvali EL, Derenko M, Malyarchuk B, Bermisheva M, Zhadanov
S, Pennarun E, Gubina M, Golubenko M, Damba L, Fedorova S, Gusar V, Grechanina
E, Mikerezi I, Moisan JP, Chaventre A, Khusnutdinova E, Osipova L, Stepanov
V, Voevoda M, Achilli A, Rengo C, Rickards O, De Stefano GF, Papiha S, Beckman
L, Janicijevic B, Rudan P, Anagnou N, Michalodimitrakis E, Koziel S, Usanga
E, Geberhiwot T, Herrnstadt C, Howell N, Torroni A, Villems R. 2003. Origin
and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X. Am J Hum Genet. 2003 Nov;73(6):1178-90.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
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Native American affiliation in Middle Easterners.
Middle Eastern populations systematically show quite low (on average) levels
of Native American affiliation with AncestryByDNA™. Other researchers, measuring
Y chromosome haplotypes have shown that Native American sequences are not
restricted to North and South America – also being found in Central
and South Asia. Results from other work relevant to this finding include:
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed significant frequencies of Native American
Y chromosome haplotypes in Western/Central Asia. Though Native American
Y chromosome haplotypes were not detected at significant frequencies
in Middle Easterners, this result in Western/Central Asians at least
shows the presence of Native American sequences in that region of the
world, which at first might seem as counterintuitive as the presence
of Native American sequences in Middle Easterners (Underhill et al.,
2001, see Figure UNDERHILL ).
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 did not show significant Native American affiliation
for Druze Arabs, Palestinians or Bedouins though not every Middle Eastern
sub-ethnicity has been tested by them, and we find that the Native American
affiliation level varies between these Middle Eastern sub-ethnicities.
- Though Native American mtDNA haplotypes are not detected at appreciable
levels for Middle Eastern populations, large studies have not yet been
conducted to investigate this thoroughly.
Thus, the evidence from other work for significant Native
American affiliation for Middle Eastern populations is only circumstantial
and indirect. There is a significant frequency of Native American Y-chromosome
haplotypes in nearby Western/Central Asian regions, (as well as in South
Asia) and the exceptional power of AncestryByDNA™ may be able to detect very
low levels of Native American affiliation for Middle Easterners on a population
level that other methods cannot. The geographical proximity of Western/Central
Asia and the Middle East is provocative in this respect.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon
Lahr, R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography
of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
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Native American affiliation in Jews.
Very low levels of Native American affiliation are commonly observed for
Jews. This situation is very similar to that for Native American affiliation
for Middle Easterners, since Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations
are genetically similar. Many contemporary Jewish populations including
the Ashkenazim have been traced to a common Middle Eastern source population
existing several thousand years ago (Hammer et al., 2002, Nebel et al.
2001, Thomas et al., 2002) and in fact, Jews and Near Eastern (Middle Eastern)
populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes (Hammer
et al., 2000).
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed significant frequencies of Native American
Y chromosome haplotypes in Western/Central Asia. Though Jews were not
tested specifically in this study, this result in Western/Central Asians
at least shows the presence of Native American sequences in that region
of the world, which at first might seem as counterintuitive as the presence
of Native American sequences in Middle Easterners (Underhill et al.,
2001, see Figure UNDERHILL ).
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 did not address Jews and did not show significant
Native American affiliation for Druze Arabs, Palestinians or Bedouin
Middle Easterners.
The evidence for Native American affiliation in Jewish populations,
as with the Middle Eastern populations, is circumstantial and based on a
geographical proximity between Jews/Middle Easterners to Western/Central
Asian populations, and in the latter, appreciable Native American mtDNA and
Y haplotypes have been found.
Hammer, M., A. Redd, E. Wood, M. Bonner, H. Jarjanazi, T.
Karafet, S. Santachiara-Benerecetti, A. Oppenheim, M. Jobling, T. Jenkins,
H. Ostrer, B. Bonne-Tamir. 2000. Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations
share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes. PNAS USA 97:6769-6774.
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon
Lahr, R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography
of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
Hammer, MF, S. Zegura. 2002. The human Y chromosome haplogroup
tree: nomenclature and phylogeography of its major subdivisions. Annu Rev
Anthropol 31:303-321.
Nebel, A., D. Filon, B. Brinkmann, P. Majumder, M. Faerman.
2001 The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the
Middle East. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 69:1095-1112.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
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Native American affiliation in South Asian Indians
South Asian Indians (from the Indian sub-continent) systematically show high
levels of Native American affiliation (about 10%). At first, we received
considerable criticism on this result, since there was no anthropological
evidence for a reverse flow of genes from North America back into Asia,
but an inspection of the literature shows:
- Underhill et al., 2001 found the same thing, but looking at Y-chromosome
haplotypes. They showed a high frequency of Native American Y-chromsome
haplotypes in the Indian sub-continent as well as in Western/Central
Asia (Underhill et al., 2001, see Figure UNDERHILL ). This result would
seem to suggest the common finding of Native American affiliation in
these peoples with AncestryByDNA™ is not merely due to East Asian-Native
American “confusion” (since such confusion would not be expected
to exist for Y-chromosome haplotypes which are stable for greater periods
of evolutionary time than autosomal allele frequency differences are).
- Rosenberg showed lower levels of Native American affiliation in South
Asian Indians than AncestryByDNA™ does, but higher East Asian affiliation
(though AncestryByDNA™ also shows East Asian affiliation for this group).
Our Native American affiliation results with AncestryByDNA™ in South Asian Indians is nicely supported by Y-chromosome haplotype work.
Sequences clearly unique to Native Americans from North, Latin and South
America are present in the South Asian Indian population and distinct from
East Asian sequences also found in this population.
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon
Lahr, R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography
of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
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East Asian affiliation in South Asian Indians
We see average East Asian affiliation at levels around 25% for South Asian
Indians. Others working on Y-chromosome and mtDNA haplotypes have seen
a similarly significant level of East Asian affiliation for this population:
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 showed considerable East Asian affiliation in
South Asian Indians and other Central Asians (from 10-40%, depending
on the ethnicity, see Figure ROSENBERG , Central Asian columns, k=4).
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed a significant frequency of East Asian
Y-chromosome haplotypes in South Asian Indians and Near Eastern populations
(from 5-15% of all Y-haplotypes, depending on the region, see Figure
UNDERHILL ).
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon
Lahr, R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography
of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
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East Asian affiliation in Russians and Eastern Europeans
Our test commonly shows low levels of East Asian affiliation for Russians
and Eastern Europeans, on the order of a few percent. Others looking at
Y-chromosome haplotypes and using different affiliation tests have seen
the same thing:
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed considerable fraction of Western/Central
Asian Y-chromosome haplotypes were of East Asian origin (see Figure UNDERHILL
). In contrast, an insignificant number of East Asian Y-haplotypes were
found in Western European populations.
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 showed a systematic East Asian affiliation for
Russians, similar to our results, on the order of a few percent or so
(see Figure ROSENBERG , K=4, for Russians). As with Underhill, no significant
East Asian affiliation was found for Western Europeans.
Thus, two separate studies, using two different methods
from ours (Y-chromosome haplotypes, and ancestry-informative autosomal repeats
with a different algorithm), showed the same result we are seeing with AncestryByDNA™:
Russians and Eastern Europeans show a low level of East Asian affiliation.
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African affiliation in Mexican Hispanics
Mexican Hispanics commonly show African affiliation, presumably as a consequence
of the slave-trade importation of Africans to North America, the Caribbean
and Latin America.
- Underhill et al., 2001 showed that about 10% of the Y-chromosome haplotypes
in Latin America are of African origin (see Figure UNDERHILL ). In contrast,
the frequency of African haplotypes for North American Native American
Amerindian and South American populations was insignificant.
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 did not show significant African affiliation
for Native American populations (see Figure ROSENBERG ), but this group
tested relatively homogeneous Mayans, Pima, Colombians, Surul and Karitiana
rather than less homogeneous, and more modern “Hispanic” descendents
from these populations. Interestingly, significant European affiliation
was shown for the Maya, which may be due to pre (i.e. Viking) or post
(i.e. American) Columbian affiliation.
Underhill, P., G. Passarino, A. Lin, P. Shen, M. Mirazon
Lahr, R. Foley, P. Oefner and L. Cavalli-Sforza. 2001. The phylogeography
of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations.
Ann. Hum. Genet. 65:43-62.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385
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East Asian affiliation for Native Americans
East Asian affiliation is commonly found for Amerinds and other
Native Americans. This one is particularly tricky given the low genetic distance
between Native Americans and East Asians. However, there appears to be evidence
that there may have been more than one migration into North America and if
this is true, East Asian affiliation in Native Americans could be a remnant
signature from integrated descendents of the later migrational wave.
- Lell et al., 2002 suggested that Native American male lineages were
derived from two major Siberian migrations. From their paper, “The
first migration originated in southern Middle Siberia with the founding
haplotype M45a (10-11-11-10). In Beringia, this gave rise to the predominant
Native American lineage, M3 (10-11-11-10), which crossed into the New
World. A later migration came from the Lower Amur/Sea of Okhkotsk region,
bringing haplogroup RPS4Y-T and subhaplogroup M45b, with its associated
M173 variant. This migration event contributed to the modern genetic
pool of the Na-Dene and Amerinds of North and Central America.”
- most groups in the Arctic and Subarctic are almost exclusively haplogroup
A, they still exhibit haplogroups C, D, and X in low frequency. This
could be due to affiliation between descendents of later wave migrants
(A) with earlier wave migrants (C, D and X), or it could reflect a common
ancestry rather than affiliation
- According to our colleague at Trace Genetics, Ripan Mahli, for mtDNA,
all of the haplogroups exhibit a star-like network with a nodal haplotype
and this nodal haplotype is found in high frequency in all Native American
groups who exhibit that haplogroup. This indicates a single founding
lineage for each haplogroup and a single migration. Of course, there
are other Native American groups that do not exhibit this nodal haplotype,
and this observation only pertains to mtDNA sequences (i.e. the second
wave of migrants could have been mainly male).
- There are two main Native American Y-chromosome haplotypes, C and Q.
C is found more commonly in the North, and Q more commonly in the South
Americas. This stratification is easiest to explain with a multiple migration
scenario where the migrants settled in different regions of the Americas,
though it is also possible that it is due to a single migration and subsequent
genetic drift/selection to accentuate frequency differences between North
and South.
- Rosenberg et al., 2002 showed significant East Asian affiliation for
Maya, Pima and Colombians, though they cannot confirm that this affiliation
is due to bona-fide affiliation rather than statistical error (which
as mentioned, is especially high for this particular discrimination,
with any test, due to the low genetic distance between Native Americans
and East Asians).
Lell JT, Sukernik RI, Starikovskaya YB, Su B, Jin L, Schurr
TG, Underhill PA, Wallace DC. The dual origin and Siberian affinities of
Native American Y chromosomes. Am J Hum Genet. 2002 Jan;70(1):192-206.
Rosenberg, N., J. Pritchard, J. Weber, H. Cann, K. Kidd,
L. Zhivotovsky, M. Feldman. 2002. Genetic structure of human populations.
Science. 298: 2381-2385.
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Actual AncestryByDNA™ 2.5 results from individuals
of various self-described ethnic affiliations
These are actual AncestryByDNA™ 2.5 results from individuals of various self-described
ethnic affiliations. Notice the general concordance of results within groups,
and for American Indians, concordance with expected levels of affiliation.
Notice the significant sub-Saharan African affiliation for Hispanics, and
the low levels, but systematic sub-Saharan African affiliation for Middle
Eastern and Mediterraneans versus Northern Europeans. Note that the orientation
of each figure is different"
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Recognized Vs Unrecognized American Indian Tribes
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This plot shows two different types of American Indians.
The red and light green data spots are from individuals that are part of
American Indian tribes that are recognized by the US Government as Native
American. Each lives on a reservation, and for inclusion, the heritage of
each individual is well documented. General types of tribes include Sioux,
Cheyenne, Cherokee, Arapaho but specific tribal information shall remain
confidential.
In contrast, the yellow and blue data points are from individuals
who are part of an American Indian tribe that is NOT recognized by the US
Government. None live on a reservation and most of these individuals live
in major US cities. Most claim heritage significantly less than 50% Amerind
blood but a few do not. Acceptance in this group is conferred if one grandparent
was reported by the applicant as Native American.
Please note that
- this is only one example of an unrecognized tribe and is not necessarily
representative of others.
- ethnic identity is based on more than just genes - for example, sociocultural
(customs), language, politics, religious and geographical considerations
are also involved. This result therefore does not mean that individuals
of this particular tribe are NOT American Indians - this is a question
for others to decide.
- the limit of detection for our test is such that a person could have
a great grandparent that is 50% Native American and still obtain a 0%
Native American score. Therefore a negative result with our test does
not prove that there is no Native American or Amerind genetic heritage
- it only suggests that if it exists, it is likely to be relatively low.
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Average AncestryByDNA™ 2.5 results for various populations.Data
in table is plotted on a global map to show geographical trends
Click image to see larger image
Disclaimer: Ancestry percentages obtained
with AncestryByDNA™ reports of genetic affiliations, not necessarily recent
genealogical histories they way you are accustomed to thinking of them. They
are anthropology-driven AND genealogy-driven - a 10% East Asian result for
a European population, or person, could have a very simple, genealogical
interpretation (i.e. recent ancestors were Chinese) or a more complex, anthropological
explanation (i.e.from an ethnic group with a historical connection to East
Asians). Please refer to the “Interpreting the Results” section
to understand how genetic affiliations arise in human populations and how
to responsibly interpret genome base population affiliation test results
such as those provided by AncestryByDNA™.
| Ethnic Group (n) |
European |
sSah African (s.d.) |
East Asian (s.d.) |
Native American (s.d.) |
| African American (136) |
14.3% (13.3%) |
79.6% (14.0%) |
2.8% (6.0%) |
3.3% (5.1%) |
| North African (7) |
77.4% (5.8%) |
15.0% (7.3%) |
5.6% (5.4%) |
2% (3.4%) |
| Puerto Rican (64) |
55.0% (20.7%) |
32.6% (24.6%) |
3.6% (5.4%) |
8.8% (8.3%) |
| North Euro subset 1 (10) |
97.0% (3.6%) |
1.0% (2.1%) |
1.9% (3.0%) |
0.4% (1.4%) |
| Irish (17) |
96.4% (4.3%) |
0.7% (2.1%) |
1.2% (2.7%) |
1.7% (4.1%) |
| Icelandic (12) |
93.8% (5.5%) |
1.2%*** (2.2%) |
0.8% (1.4%) |
4.25% (5.0%) |
| Greek (18) |
90.4% (4.0%) |
4.8% (4.2%) |
1.7% (5.3%) |
4.7% (4.8%) |
| Iberians (9) |
78.8% (21.0%) |
6.6% (7.1%) |
4.0% (7.6%) |
10.7% (16.7%) |
| Basque (10) |
93.0% (5.2%) |
2.3% (3.6%) |
0.8% (2.5%) |
3.9% (4.1%) |
| Italian (12) |
86.8% (8.9%) |
2.3% (3.2%) |
2.7% (5.5%) |
7.3% (5.9%) |
| Turkish (40) |
85.3% (5.4%) |
3.2% (4.8%) |
7.3% (6.7%) |
5.1% (6%) |
| Ashkenazi Jewish(10) |
86.8% (5.8%) |
4.7% (3.9%) |
2.0% (4.9%) |
6.6% (3.6%) |
| Middle East vers. I (9) |
88.1% (9.7%) |
2.8% (5.6%) |
4.8% (7.3%) |
4.2% (5.1%) |
| Middle East vers. II (11) |
82.0% (11.0%) |
10.8% (8.9%) |
4.5% (7.5%) |
2.6% (6.3%) |
| South Asian Indian (56) |
58.9% (8.9%) |
5.1% (4.7%) |
26.9% (10.7%) |
9.1% (8.8%) |
| Chinese (10) |
0.7% (0.9%) |
0% (0%) |
98.0% (2.4%) |
1.3% (2.5%) |
| Japanese (10) |
1.1% (2.6%) |
0.4% (1.8%) |
95.3% (4.2%) |
3.2% (4.0%) |
| Atayal (10) |
0.5% (1.6%) |
0% (0%) |
97.6% (4.2%) |
1.9% (4.2%) |
| SouthEast Asian (11) |
8.0% (11.1%) |
3.6% (7.3%) |
82.2% (14.8%) |
6.3% (6.7%) |
| Pacific Islander (7) |
24.7% (16.0%) |
3.7% (4.5%) |
50.6% (21.3%) |
21.0% (11.7%) |
| American Indian* (223) |
41.9% (35.8%) |
3.7% (12.4%) |
6.7% (8.6%) |
47.6% (33.8%) |
| American Indian** (170) |
28.6% (27.6%) |
2.2% (5.9%) |
8.2% (9.2%) |
61.1% (27.0%) |
| Mexican (60) |
43.2% (19.3%) |
5.6% (7.2%) |
4.4% (9.3%) |
46.8% (18.1%) |
| POPULATION COMBINATIONS |
| Combined North Euro/Irish (27) |
96.5%(4.0%) |
0.81%(2.0%) |
1.5%(2.8%) |
1.2%(3.8%) |
| Mediterranean (Greek/Italian) (30) |
89%(6.0%) |
4.2%(4.4%) |
2.1%(5.4%) |
5.7%(5.2%) |
| SE European (Greek/Italian/Turks) (70) |
86.9%(5.6%) |
3.6%(3.8%) |
6.7%(5.6%) |
7.8%(5.2%) |
| Middle Eastern(Mid East I+II) (20) |
84.8%(10.7%) |
7.2%(8.7%) |
4.4%(7.7%) |
3.7%(5.1%) |
| Ashkenazi Jewish + Middle Eastern(30) |
85.4%(8.9%) |
6.4%(6.2%) |
3.8%(6.6%) |
4.4%(5.0%) |
| European American(207) |
90.5%(10.2%) |
3.0%(5.8%) |
2.8%(4.9%) |
3.8%(6.1%) |
TABLE:ETHNIC
TABLE ETHNIC – TABLE ETHNIC – using 175 AIM battery for continental
ancestry admixture. Bold print with dark grey background indicate the primary
ancestry. Grey background indicates levels of non-primary admixture that
is statistically significant compared to the level in the appropriate simulated
parental population using Fishers Exact test. Fishers Exact test p-values
were computed in the following way: percentage p of admixture was multiplied
by the sample size (n), and this value combined with the corresponding value
for 1-p (non group admixture) was compared against the p*n and (1-p)*n for
the simulated parental populations. The reason p is multiplied by the sample
size is to penalize low admixture estimates contributed by only a small number
of samples when the sample size for a group is relatively low.
* includes individuals from US Government recognized tribes (Sioux, Cheyenne,
Cherokee, Arapaho) as well as unrecognized tribes, without regard to “blood” percentage.
** includes individuals from US Government recognized tribes only (Sioux,
Cheyenne, Cherokee, Arapaho), without regard to “blood” percentage
*** significance contributed mainly by one sample, scoring 7% AFR.
From TABLE ETHNIC, we can see that most of the subpopulations exhibit fractional
affiliations statistically different from their respective parental populations
(using Fishers exact test). Of the European subpopulations, only Northern
European and Irish samples show no significant affiliation; others such as
Greeks, Italians, Iberians show statistically significant affiliation using
the 4-population model and the basic MLE algorithm. Of the East Asians, the
Chinese and Japanese are relatively unadmixed compared to the South East
Asians. All Native American and African populations tested in this study
showed significant fractional affiliation compared to their parental group.
