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Geneticists seized the opportunity provided by an international Basque cultural event held in Idaho in 2010 to sample volunteers and study Basque DNA. The result was two studies, including "The Y-STR Genetic Diversity of an Idaho Basque population, published in Human Biology.

It was the first DNA study to document the spread of the Basque male chromosome overseas. The Basque people were renowned seafarers.

"The idea is to better understand health risks for Basque people, including an increased incidence of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases," said Josu Zubizarreta, a Boise State graduate who conducted research with the lead author, Greg Hampikian.

Mitochondrial DNA, which reflects a deeper history, was also studied.

Basques are credited with the invention of the rudder. They provided the crew and navigators for Magellan. Basque names are common on antique maps. The Bay of Biscayne is named for them, and many harbors, points and landfalls on the Atlantic Coast of North America are thought to come from the Basque language, which is known as an isolate and is unrelated to other European languages.

Sculpture of Basque sailor, Victorio Macho, Toledo. Travelpod.

Citation
Zubizarreta, Josu; Davis, Michael C.; and Hampikian, Greg (2011) "The Y-STR genetic diversity of an Idaho Basque population, with comparison to European Basques and US Caucasians," Human Biology: Vol. 83: Iss. 6, Article 2.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol83/iss6/2

In a paper to be delivered at the American Marketing Association's meeting in Washington in June, Elizabeth C. Hirschman estimates that the number of people who have purchased a DNA test now exceeds 1.5 million. Her work suggests that the value of the market (excluding paternity testing) in 2011 will reach nearly $150 million in sales. That seems like too big an industry to escape government oversight, and it's true that several scientists have targeted the direct-to-the-consumer DNA testing business for criticism, particularly personal genomics companies like 23andme.

Before another academic grant gets written to send out another industry questionnaire, however, marketing professionals and public policy analysts ought to have a look at Hirschman's new case study, destined, we think, to become a classic. "Altruistic Economics and Consumer Cooperatives in the DNA Marketspace" sketches a vibrant picture of DNA test takers busy following up on their results in social networking sites like DNA Communities and even joining in the design process for product improvements by the leaders in the industry. No unhappy campers there!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Rather than mount yet another policy making roundtable, would-be regulators should just order some of the DNA tests available from today's leading companies and judge for themselves how accurate or valuable or harmful they are. That makes a lot more sense than writing another food review for a restaurant they do not intend to patronize, or for a cuisine that is not to their taste.

The AMA's Marketing and Public Policy Conference is the premier national and international event for marketing academics, public policy makers, and marketing practitioners interested in social and public policy.

Another point made by the paper is that "The industry has completed the introduction, early growth stages and consolidation phase of its life cycle . . . . It is a mature field facing few new technology thresholds, and it is still very much confined to the United States, Canada and England." That having been said, it may be too late to regulate the industry. It seems to be doing fine all by itself. Like the pharmaceutical and computer industries, the DNA marketspace is an American phenomenon we should all just basically let thrive and be proud of.

Altruistic Economics and Consumer Cooperatives in the DNA Marketspace

 

The Y-chromosome landscape of the Philippines: extensive heterogeneity and varying genetic affinities of Negrito and non-Negrito groups

Frederick Delfin1,2, Jazelyn M Salvador1, Gayvelline C Calacal1, Henry B Perdigon1, Kristina A Tabbada1, Lilian P Villamor1, Saturnina C Halos1, Ellen Gunnarsdóttir2, Sean Myles1,6, David A Hughes2, Shuhua Xu3, Li Jin3, Oscar Lao4, Manfred Kayser4, Matthew E Hurles5, Mark Stoneking2 and Maria Corazon A De Ungria1

European Journal of Human Genetics (2011) 19, 224–230; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.162; published online 29 September 2010

Abstract

The Philippines exhibits a rich diversity of people, languages, and culture, including so-called ‘Negrito’ groups that have for long fascinated anthropologists, yet little is known about their genetic diversity. We report here, a survey of Y-chromosome variation in 390 individuals from 16 Filipino ethnolinguistic groups, including six Negrito groups, from across the archipelago. We find extreme diversity in the Y-chromosome lineages of Filipino groups with heterogeneity seen in both Negrito and non-Negrito groups, which does not support a simple dichotomy of Filipino groups as Negrito vs non-Negrito. Filipino non-recombining region of the human Y chromosome lineages reflect a chronology that extends from after the initial colonization of the Asia-Pacific region, to the time frame of the Austronesian expansion. Filipino groups appear to have diverse genetic affinities with different populations in the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, some Negrito groups are associated with indigenous Australians, with a potential time for the association ranging from the initial colonization of the region to more recent (after colonization) times. Overall, our results indicate extensive heterogeneity contributing to a complex genetic history for Filipino groups, with varying roles for migrations from outside the Philippines, genetic drift, and admixture among neighboring groups.

A blogger on Eupedia's genetics forum has deduced the haplogroups of many European kings and queens from living descendants who have been tested. It has long been known that mtDNA haplogroup H dominated the lines of Europe's aristocracies, while Y chromosomal R1b was the most common male lineage. Prince Phillip exhibits the stereotypical genes in this regard. More interesting than the royal personages listed are those that haven't yet made the list, like Elizabeth I or Charlemagne. It would be interesting to know what the mitochondrial DNA was of Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn or what Charlemagne's male lineage was.

One fascinating observation of the blogger is, "All kings of France supposedly belonged to haplogroup G2a3 (Y-DNA)." G2a makes up 5 to 10% of Mediterranean Europe but is rare in Northern Europe. It is believed to have originated with metalworking peoples from the Caucasus or Anatolia who accompanied the R1b-dominant Indo-Europeans on their conquest of Europe in the 3rd millennium BCE.

See "Geographic Spread and Ethnic Origins of European Haplogroups - Eupedia."

Possum Creek Stone and Anomalous Cherokee DNA Point to Eastern Mediterranean Origins

In memoriam Gloria Farley

Donald N. Yates

DNA Consultants

Keynote address for Ancient American History and Archeology Conference, Sandy, Utah, April 2, 2010

SUMMARY  Three examples of North American rock art are discussed and placed in the context of ancient Greek and Hebrew civilization. The Red Bird Petroglyphs are compared with Greek and Hebrew coins and the Bat Creek Stone. The Possum Creek Stone discovered by Gloria Farley is identified as a Greek athlete’s victory pedestal. The Thruston Stone is interpreted as a record of the blending of Greek, Cherokee, Native American, Egyptian and Hebrew civilization. Keetoowah Society traditions, as captured in The Vision of Eloh’, are adduced to confirm a general outline of the origins of the Cherokee people in a Ptolemaic Greek trans-Pacific expedition joining pre-arriving Greeks, Jews and Phoenicians in the Ohio Valley around 100 c.e.  Recent DNA investigations showing Egyptian, Jewish and Phoenician female lineages and the Y chromosome of Old Testament Priests among the Cherokee are also touched upon. Greek words and customs in the Cherokee are reviewed as time permits. Slide projector requested.

A cave entrance overlooking the Redbird River, a tributary of the South Fork of the Kentucky River in Clay County, Kentucky in the Daniel Boone National Forest, has inscriptions which according to Kenneth B. Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati display a nineteenth-century example of writing in the Cherokee syllabary. A local resident (Burchell) recognizes Greek writing in one inscription (called Christian Monogram #2) but his reading is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. Evaluation by experts in Greek and Semitic epigraphy identifies two distinct inscriptions, one in Greek and one in Hebrew.  They appear to be contemporaneous with the Bat Creek Stone unearthed in the 1889 excavation of a tomb in East Tennessee by Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian Institution.

Another record of Greek-speaking people in ancient America is the Possum Creek Stone, discovered by Gloria Farley in Oklahoma in the 1970s. It is discussed by her in Volume 2 of In Plain Sight as proof that the man history knows as Sequoyah did not invent the Cherokee syllabary.  The inscription can be read as Greek, HO-NI-KA-SA or ‘o nikasa, i.e. “This is the one who takes the prize of victory,” a common inscription for the pedestal upon which victors were crowned at athletic games.  The use is Homeric, and the spelling Doric.

A third piece of evidence helps fill in the background of the arrival of Greeks and their intermarriage with Asiatic and other Indians in North America. In 1870, an engraved 19 x 15 inch limestone tablet was uncovered in a mound excavation on Rocky Creek near Castalian Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee (see Ancient American, vol. 12, no. 77). Dating to an earlier time than its Mississipian Period context, it commemorates a peace treaty between the Cherokee and Shawnee. The Cherokee chief wears a horse-hair crested helmet and carries the spear and shield of a Greek hoplite. His Shawnee adversary clasps hands in a wedding ceremony with a Cherokee woman who bears wampum belts as a pledge of peace, has her hair in a maidenly bun, wears a Middle Eastern-style plaid kilt, and displays a large star of David. In the Red Record or Walam Olum, we learn that before crossing the Mississippi, somewhere along the south bank of the Missouri, the Algonquians or Lenni Lenape (Delaware Indians), who are later allied with the Cherokee, encounter a foreign tribe they call the Stonys. Cherokee legends about Stone-coat demonstrate that the original Cherokee had metal armor and weapons. DNA studies confirm a mixture of “anomalous” East Mediterranean mitochondrial lineages such as Egyptian T, Greek U and Phoenician X with “standard” American Indian haplogroups A, B, C and D in the Cherokee and certain other Eastern Woodlands Indians.

To sum up, the Red Bird Petroglyph is a Greek inscription from the 2nd to 3rd century c.e., not a crude Cherokee scratching of around 1800 as announced recently by the Archeological Institute of America and the New York Times. It occurs above what is, in all likelihood, an inscription in Maccabean-era Hebrew. The Sequoyan syllabary for which these Greek and Hebrew inscriptions were mistaken originated in the Greek world of the Bronze Age along with other syllabaries like Linear A, Linear B and Cypro-Minoan. The Cherokee language, which today is Iroquoian, is the result of a relexification process in the distant past. It contains many relics of words of Greek origin, especially in the area of government, military terminology, mythology, athletics and ritual. Cherokee music also reflects Greek origins.  The Cherokee Indians are, quite literally, the Greeks of Native America.

Possum Creek Stone and Anomalous Cherokee DNA Point to East Mediterranean Origins (PPT)

Greek Words and Customs in Cherokee