Brit-Am Anthropology and DNA Update (24 October 2017, 4 Heshvan, 5778)
Contents:
1. Dogs And People Have More In Common Than You Might Think
2. New Research Shows that Some Ancient Egyptians Were Naturally Fair-Haired
3. Ashkenazic mt (Female transmitted) DNA linked to Etruscans (who came from Lydia in west Turkey)
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1. Dogs And People Have More In Common Than You Might Think
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/13/557166894/dogs-and-people-have-more-in-common-than-you-might-think
Extracts:
Scientists in China have found evidence that dogs developed protection against malaria in the same way that people in West Africa have.
One tiny change in dogs' genes likely boosted their immune response to the malaria parasite, geneticists from Yunnan University reported Tuesday in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
The gene, called ADGRE1, is also linked with malaria protection in people.
The findings add to growing evidence that dogs and people have undergone what is called convergent evolution: They've adapted to new environments by independently evolving similar traits.
"The classic example of convergent evolution is altitude adaptation in Tibetans "and their dogs," says geneticist Adam Boyko at Cornell University, who wasn't involved in the current study.
Tibetans have a special version of a gene that helps their blood cope with low levels of oxygen. The gene, called ESPA1, turns on a whole bunch of other genes when oxygen levels drop.
"Lo and behold! Dogs in Tibet also have a mutation in ESPA1 that confers resistance to low oxygen levels," Boyko says.
That finding was published a few years ago by another team in China. Now this new study adds a few more genes to the doggy-human convergence.
The data suggest dogs adapted to the diet in West Africa in a similar way as people, by changing the same genes involved with insulin secretion and sensitivity. And they picked up mutations that helped protect them from the intense sunlight in the tropics, just as people have.
All this new information comes from an unlikely source: local dogs in Nigeria, which often end up on the street.
"Similar dogs are found all over the Congo, Liberia and Guinea," says Boyko, who has studied the genetics of some street dogs. "They kind of all look the same: skinny brown dogs."
To look for convergent evolution in people and dogs, Ya-Ping Zhang and his colleagues at Yunnan University sequenced the genomes of 15 local dogs in Nigeria and then compared their genomes with those of European breed dogs, Chinese street dogs and wolves.
Eventually, these pioneering dogs also gave rise to basenjis, the famous African breed with short, smooth hair, a curled-up tail and a unique yodel. And they adapted to the tropical environment in West Africa by building up resistance to a malaria-like illness, just like their furless two-legged friends.
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2. New Research Shows that Some Ancient Egyptians Were Naturally Fair-Haired
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/new-research-shows-some-ancient-egyptians-were-naturally-fair-haired-005812
Extracts:
Dr. Davey is convinced that there were fair-haired Egyptians, but believes that the fair-haired mummies are just very rare. This is why Egyptologists used to believe that lighter hair color was created during the mummification process. Moreover, Davey suggests that there were blondes living in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman Period (332 BC - 395 AD).
"Some ancient Egyptians could have been blue-eyed blondes or brown-eyed blondes. I wouldn't say ancient Egypt was multi-cultural like Australia today but certainly there were various mixes." - she said.
Moreover, one of the greatest pharaohs in history, Ramesses II, had red hair .Â
https://www.quora.com/Did-some-percentage-of-population-in-ancient-Egypt-have-red-hair/answer/Walter-Smyth
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3. Ashkenazic mt (Female transmitted) DNA linked to Etruscans (who came from Lydia in west Turkey)
http://dienekes.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/etruscans-maybe-not-from-anatolia.html
And for the aDNA one of the articles found the greatest affinity for ashkenaz jews in the etruscans (and that was counting all of them not just the west german ones).
Brit-Am Note:
The Etruscans were a people who lived in Tuscany in Northern Italy. They preceded the Romans and gave much to Roman civilization.
The Etruscans traditionally came from Lydia in what is now western Anatolia i.e. the Asiatic part of Turukey.
This has been confirmed in part by DNA findings regarding mt(female transmitted) DNA.
It is claimed that the majority of Ashekenazic mtDNA may be traced to Tuscany with apparently an emphasis on the Etruscans part.
We understand that both mtDNA transmitted by females and Y DNA (derived from males) are determined ultimately by environment.
Concerning mtDNA some environmental influence is more or less agreed to be the "experts."
See:
Human mtDNA subject to selection by climate?
http://dienekes.blogspot.co.il/2009/07/climate-has-driven-mtdna-variation-in.html
In regards to YDNA however very little has been said.
See:
Human paternal lineages, languages, and environment in the Caucasus.
Tarkhnishvili D1, Gavashelishvili A1, Murtskhvaladze M1, Gabelaia M1, Tevzadze G2.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25397702