Inbreeding Issues

    Researchers have long studied purebred lines in dogs and determined that some lines contain as much as 25% inbreeding. This is far beyond the safe limit of 3-6%. Producing overly inbred animals comes with many genetic issues. In the golden retrievers and shepherds, it's most notably hip dysplasia. In the bulldogs, it's upper respiratory issues. Every purebred come with its own set of issues. Not every purebred dog will have these issues but the more inbred they are the more likely these genetic disorders will occur. Veterinary geneticist Danika Bannasch found that the majority of canine breeds are highly inbred and that it is contributing to an increase in disease and health care costs throughout their lifespan. In a study done across 227 breeds Bannasch stated "While previous studies have shown that small dogs live longer than large dogs, no one had previously reported on morbidity or the presence of disease. This study revealed that if dogs are of smaller size and not inbred, they are much healthier than larger dogs with high inbreeding." She was amazed at how much inbreeding had affected each studied dog. She talks further about how we breed for certain characteristics for the "breed standard" yet those desired traits can be a detriment to the dogs. An example of that is the squished face of the french bulldog, although cute, compromises their airway significantly.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/although-purebred-dogs-can-be-best-in-show-are-they-worst-in-health/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211202162148.htm

Noninvasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT)

Noninvasive Prenatal Testing is a procedure used to determine the genetic code of a fertilized baby, while it is still in the first trimester. The purpose of this procedure is intended to make sure non-desirable traits are not inherited from family tree's that have a history of these traits. The procedure is done by something as simple as a blood draw. Once the blood is drawn from the maternal parent, the blood is sent to a laboratory and examined by geneticists. The results would return in 8 to 14 days. 

Link:  1https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/testing/nipt/#:~:text=Noninvasive%20prenatal%20testing%20(NIPT)%2C,in%20a%20pregnant%20woman's%20blood.

Link: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/noninvasive-prenatal-testing/about/pac-20384574

DNA Analysis Unveils Fate of Ancient Canaanites

The New York Times published an article about Dr. Tyler Smith and a team of geneticists and archaeologists that recently found DNA evidence that contradicts a story in the Hebrew Bible.  In the story, God requests the annihilation of all living things including the Ancient Canaanite population.  Dr. Smith and the teams excavated five Canaanite bodies and recovered DNA from the bones; the bodies are known to be between 3,650 to 5,750 years old.  Teams compared the DNA with the genomes of 99 people living in modern day Lebanon and found that modern Lebanese people shared about 93% of their ancestry with the excavated bodies.  Unlike other civilizations from this time period, not much information is known about the Canaanite population.  The discovery of modern day Canaanite ancestry could possibly answer some questions about the population.  These finding are interesting because it shows that the population only changed slightly over a long period of time.    The results also bring up many questions for the Hebrew religion.

Error in DNA Study of First Ancient African Genome

In October of last year, the first ancient human genome ever found in Africa was reconstructed. Dr. Manica and his colleagues' research was based off of the 4,500 year old Mota man. The skeleton was given his name from the cave he was found in Africa. DNA dating back to ancient times from this part of the world is hard to find because of its hot and humid climate. The limited amount of data and knowledge from ancient Africa allowed the geneticist's mistake to go unnoticed, that is until two other geneticist reanalyzed the results.

Dr. David Reich and Dr. Pontus Skoglund asked for the original data to help with their studies of ancient human populations. As the two Harvard Medical School geneticists reviewed Dr. Manica's work they came to the realization that it was incorrect. It became clear that the genome shared some DNA with Eurasians and was not as closely related to people in other parts of Africa as originally thought. The mistake made by Manica and his colleagues was relatively minor but had a huge impact on the overall results. Two programs were used in the research, one mapped the DNA while the other compared it to other genomes. From the one program to the other the format had to be changed, but the researchers neglected to do this. Unfortunately, bypassing this step caused for inaccurate data. 

 From Dr. Manica's results it was believed that the back flow that happened approximately 3,000 years ago when people migrated from the Near East back to East Africa spread all across the continent. This flow of humans supposedly explained why many Africans had DNA identical to Eurasians. When the mistake in the genome was found the geneticists found that only East Africans had similar Eurasian DNA. The original story of the back flow was true, but not completely accurate.

Although, a mistake was made it is still incredible that geneticist are able to collect data from thousands of years ago. Hopefully, this issue will help other researchers in the future to avoid making similar mistakes. Now that Reich and Skoglund have come up with the correct data we will be able to learn more about people from this time and location.