A new, massive family tree for all of mankind seeks to describe how all people living now are related to one another as well as to our ancient ancestors, in an effort to bring the whole human race together under one roof.
As per a recent report released on Thursday (February 24) in the journal Science, scientists sorted through thousands of genomic sequences obtained from both present and ancient people, as well as ancient human relations, to construct this family tree or genealogy. These genomes were derived from 215 different populations located all over the globe. Using a computer technique, the researchers discovered various trends of genetic variation among these sequences, emphasizing where they were similar and where they were unlike one another. Relying on such patterns, the scientists were able to construct speculative lines of ancestry between the genomes and get an understanding of which gene variations or alleles, the shared predecessors of these individuals were most likely to have carried in their genes.
Additionally, the scientists estimated where in the globe the common ancestors of all the sequenced people resided, in addition to charting out these genealogical links between them. According to the ages of the collected genomes and the place in which each genome was sampled, they made educated guesses about these sites.
A novel genealogy of current and ancient genomes is represented by each line in this diagram, which symbolizes an ancestor-descendant link in the new genealogy. The thickness of a line correlates to the number of instances in which the link was seen in the data, and the threads are colored according to the approximate age of the ancestor in the data.
Despite the fact that it is based on just a few thousand DNA samples, the team’s final family tree contains a significant amount of information about the history of mankind as a whole. The researchers then undertook a geographical study, using the tree as a framework, to determine when and where the putative ancestors of their studied groups were most likely to have resided in the past. On the basis of this, they not only discovered conclusive proof of the out-of-Africa migration, but they also discovered evidence of possible contacts between Homo sapiens and now-extinct hominids.
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