Parallel: Migrations to the Americas - Part 6

Previous parts to this post have concerned migrations to the American continents. In this part I discuss the DNA analysis of a migration to Europe and its parallel with the migration of the Lehites to the Americas as described in the Book of Mormon.

As explained in Earliest European Farmers Left Little Genetic Mark On Modern Europe, the first settlers in Europe are believed to have been Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who arrived about 40,000 years ago. About 7,500 years ago people migrated to Europe and brought farming to that area. The question thus arises, are modern Europeans descended from the hunter-gatherers, the farmers, or both?

DNA was obtained from skeletons of early farmers, and the DNA contained "genetic signatures that are extremely rare in modern European populations. Based on this discovery, the researchers conclude that early farmers did not leave much of a genetic mark on modern European populations." In fact, '"Our paper suggests that there is a good possibility that the contribution of early farmers could be close to zero," said Science author Peter Forster from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK.'

The situation given in the Science article is that of two migrations to an area, and the DNA of the later migration not occurring in the people presently living in that area. Since Europe, today, is an agricultural society, the early farmers in the later migration had a significant impact on that area, even though they left basically no genetic evidence of their existence. "It's interesting that a potentially minor migration of people into Central Europe had such a huge cultural impact," said Forster."

This is an interesting parallel with the Book of Mormon. Science tells us of early migrations to the Americas from Asia via the Bering Strait. The Book of Mormon tells of a later migration (the Lehites) from the Mediterranean area. However, DNA studies of modern Native Americans show that the Native Americans who were studied have no DNA markers from the Mediterranean area. Apologists for the Book of Mormon have explained that DNA markers from a group of people could die out and thus not be found in modern people (see, for example, Addressing Questions). We now have from science an example of DNA from a later migration not occurring among modern people currently living in that area.

Pre-Clovis Human DNA Found In 14,300-year-old Feces In Oregon Cave Is Oldest In New World

An article in ScienceDaily reported on human DNA found in Oregon that dates back 14,300 years ago.

DNA from dried human excrement recovered from Oregon's Paisley Caves is the oldest found yet in the New World -- dating to 14,300 years ago, some 1,200 years before Clovis culture -- and provides apparent genetic ties to Siberia or Asia, according to an international team of 13 scientists.

The NewsDaily article is here. The National Geographic News article is here. The LiveScience article is here.

DNA Building Block Creation Seen In Living Cells: Could Be Key To New Cancer Treatments

ScienceDaily for April 4, 2008 reported on two chemicals that comprise DNA.

Penn State scientists are the first to observe in living cells a key step in the creation of adenine and guanine, two of the four building blocks that comprise DNA. Also called purines, the two building blocks are essential for cell replication. The findings, which will be published in the 4 April 2008 issue of the journal Science, could lead to new cancer treatments that prevent cancer cells from replicating by interfering with their abilities to make purines.

Environmental Epigenetics Has Potential For Preventing And Treating Disease

ScienceDaily for February 6, 2008 reported on Epigenetics.

New research on environmental influences on health and disease has begun to shed light on why genetically identical individuals demonstrate different characteristics, such as susceptibility to disease. Scientists have found that environmental exposure to nutritional, chemical and physical factors can alter the epigenome. Literally meaning “above the genome,” the epigenome refers to differences in gene expression that are inherited without changing the sequence of DNA.

Similar articles from LiveScience are here and here.

British scientists make human-cow embryos

An article in NewsDaily for April 2, 2008 reported on human-cow embryos.

They said they had hollowed out the egg cells of cattle and inserted human DNA to create a growing embryo. The hope would be to take it apart to get embryonic stem cells.

First Common Genetic Clue to Lung Cancer

ScienceNOW for April 2, 2008 reported on studies of lung cancer and genetics.

It's well known that cigarettes can cause lung cancer. And yet, some people smoke like a chimney their entire lives and never get the disease. Now a sweeping search for an explanation has yielded a clue: Three studies have found a marker in the same region of DNA that appears to raise the risk of lung cancer. But the researchers disagree on whether the gene involved directly causes lung cancer or does so by influencing how easily people get hooked on tobacco.

The NewsDaily article is here. The LiveScience article is here. The Scientific American article is here.

Therapeutic Cloning Shows Promise for Parkinson's Disease

ScienceNOW for March 24, 2008 reported that

The new study is the first to show that cells from a diseased animal can be used to treat the very same animal. A team led by neuroscientist Lorenz Studer of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City gave mice brain lesions to create a Parkinson-like disorder in which function of the neurotransmitter dopamine was destroyed on one side of their brains. The researchers then performed SCNT, transferring the nucleus of a sick mouse's skin cell into a mouse oocyte from which the nucleus had been removed. These modified cells were grown into early embryos, or blastocysts, which were clones of the afflicted mice. Using the approach, the scientists were able to cultivate 187 embryonic stem cell lines from 24 mice. Many of these cells were cultivated into dopamine-producing neurons. The scientists then grafted these neurons into the brains of the original donors.

The ScienceDaily article is here. The NewsDaily article is here.

Ancient Europeans More Diverse, Genetically Speaking, than Modern Ones

Sub-title: Bubonic plague may be responsible for reducing the genetic diversity of present-day Britons.

Scientific American for August 1, 2007 reported that

"We found higher mitochondrial DNA diversity in ancient England (Roman to Saxon times) than in either modern England or in a combination of northern European countries," Hoelzel says. "Modern human populations are highly diverse, just less so in northern Europe, at least, than the ancient populations in England."

Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed Into Embryonic Stem Cells

An article in Science Daily for February 12, 2008 reported that

Led by scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, UCLA researchers used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells.

Discovery Could Help Reprogram Adult Cells To Embryonic Stem Cell-like State

Science Daily for February 15, 2008 reported that

In a paper released online today by the journal Cell Stem Cell, Konrad Hochedlinger and colleagues report that they have discovered how long adult cells need to be exposed to reprogramming factors before they convert to an embryonic-like state, and have “defined the sequence of events that occur during reprogramming.”

DNA Pollution May Be Spawning Killer Microbes

Sub-title:

Discover for February 14, 2008 reported that

Storteboom and Pruden are at the leading edge of an international forensic investigation into a potentially colossal new health threat: DNA pollution. Specifically, the researchers are seeking out snippets of rogue genetic material that transforms annoying bacteria into unstoppable supergerms, immune to many or all modern antibiotics. Over the past 60 years, genes for antibiotic resistance have gone from rare to commonplace in the microbes that routinely infect our bodies. The newly resistant strains have been implicated in some 90,000 potentially fatal infections a year in the United States, higher than the number of automobile and homicide deaths combined.

Embryos With 3 Parents Created

Live Science for February 5, 2008 reported that

British scientists have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and one man, a procedure that could potentially prevent conditions including epilepsy, diabetes and heart failure.

Other articles on this.

The Reuters article is here. The National Geographic News article is here. The BBC article is here.

DNA Is Blueprint, Contractor And Construction Worker For New Structures

Science Daily for February 4, 2008 reported that

DNA is the blueprint of all life, giving instruction and function to organisms ranging from simple one-celled bacteria to complex human beings. Now Northwestern University researchers report they have used DNA as the blueprint, contractor and construction worker to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, a lifeless material.

Humans And Chimps Differ At Level Of Gene Splicing

Science Daily for November 15, 2007 reported that

Researchers are closer to understanding why humans differ so greatly from chimpanzees in the way they look, behave, think, and fight off disease, despite having genes that are nearly 99% identical.

Blue-eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor

As explained in an article in ScienceDaily for January 31, 2008,

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

The World Science article is here.

Scientists Synthesize a Genome From Scratch

Science, for January 24, 2008, reported that

Researchers have rebuilt an entire genome from scratch, they report online today in Science. Although the team has yet to demonstrate that this DNA can substitute for the real thing, the work paves the way for customized bacteria that could efficiently produce drugs, biofuels, and other molecules useful to humankind.

Here is the Science Daily article.

Synthetic Life

Scientific American, for May 2004, published an interesting article that reviewed the modification of living organisms to have new characteristics, such as bacteria that glow.

The roots of synthetic biology extend back 15 years to pioneering work by Steven A. Benner and Peter G. Schultz. In 1989 Benner led a team at ETH Zurich that created DNA containing two artificial genetic "letters" in addition to the four that appear in life as we know it. He and others have since invented several varieties of artificially enhanced DNA. So far no one has made genes from altered DNA that are functional--transcribed to RNA and then translated to protein form--within living cells. Just within the past year, however, Schultz's group at the Scripps Research Institute developed cells (containing normal DNA) that generate unnatural amino acids and string them together to make novel proteins.

Project Will Map Genomes of 1,000 People Worldwide

According to Live Science for January 22, 2008,

The genomes of 1,000 people worldwide will be mapped in what scientists are calling the most detailed and medically relevant look at human genetic variation ever conducted.

Here is the Science article.

Tiny Genetic Differences Have Huge Consequences

Science Daily for January 20, 2008 reported that

A study led by McGill University researchers has demonstrated that small differences between individuals at the DNA level can lead to dramatic differences in the way genes produce proteins. These, in turn, are responsible for the vast array of differences in physical characteristics between individuals.

Hybrid Human-Animal Embryo Research Approved In The UK

Science Daily for January 18, 2008 reported that

Two research groups in the United Kingdom have been given permission to use hybrid human-animal embryos in research which aims to lead to the development of new therapies for debilitating human conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke.