Sunday, October 11, 2009

Are We Related to Genghis Khan?


One in 200 men alive today are related to Genghis Khan himself. A global team of geneticists have made the amazing discovery that there is more than 16 million men in central Asia that have the same male Y chromosome as the famous Mongol leader. Y-chromosomes that belong to dissimilar men differ slightly. “One in every 5,000 DNA units is not the same. But when we looked at our results, we found a huge group that did not show any differences. We were absolutely amazed,” said Tyler-Smith. The team, who consist of men and women from Britain, Italy, China and Uzbekistan, took tissue samples from 2,000 men from central Asia, and closely studied each one's Y chromosome, the hereditary package that grants maleness and is passed only from father to son. It is a remarkable discovery to find out that so many human beings today are related to such a well-known leader in history.


-Steven V., period 7

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It's crazy how geneticists today are able to decipher who people's ancestors are even where they lived and at what time.

Cailyn P. said...

It is amazing that scientists can find out the DNA of the Y chromosome of Genghis Khan, and find how similar it is to many men today. It makes me wonder if there are other major leaders who may be related to large numbers of people.