Wednesday, April 6, 2022

A Family Tree with over 27 Million Ancestors has Been Discovered

 

A Smithsonian article that was just published announced that the largest family tree has been discovered, and it contains over 27 million ancestors. By using genomes from ancient ancestors as well as modern genomes, scientists were able to reconstruct the tree based on geographic location. Because there were many difficulties for researchers to be able to decipher how to combine different genome sequences from multiple databases, this newly developed study has changed the world of genetics.

The study, primarily conducted by Anthony Wilder Wohns, discusses the methods and results from constructing the tree, as well as the difficulties going into working on this research. The introduction mentions how diverse genomic datasets are and working with several of those datasets can cause errors when dealing with complex patterns. 

The results of the study were successful in terms of the intention of the study. They were able to used over 3000 modern genomes and a few ancient ancestor genomic sequences to compile 27 million haplotype fragments as well as over 200 million ancestral lineages. By using the ancient samples, researchers were successful in identifying individuals as well as populations which created lines of descendants. They were also able to use geographic location discussing evolution and the out-of-Africa theory, which describes that the earliest humans came from the African continent, and eventually spread out over time. To conclude the study, researchers wrote that this is a great start to investigating genomic sequences and discovering more information about evolution, specifically in humans.

While the study was successful and provides key information in the world of evolution and genetics, there is still a lot of additional research to be done. The tree suggests that earlier humans may have come to North and South America earlier than expected, as well as similar interesting information about Oceania humans. The scientists who worked on this discovery intend to use it to help other areas of science, like in the medical field. 

When I saw this article, I was immediately drawn to it because of how many ancestors the researchers were able to connect. The world of technology and its work in genetics is remarkable and the idea that we can use geography and genomic sequences to help understand evolution and our lineage is amazing. Since this is fairly new, I expect more information to arise in the coming weeks as more researchers analyze the results seen in the study. I hope that this leads to more discovery in terms of the biological studies and that we can learn a lot of valuable information about our past.

Related Articles:

More Information Regarding the Study

Earlier Research Using Genetic Sequencing to Construct a Family Tree


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