[Bio-medical] Large-scale Study Suggests Genetic Origin of Asian Populations Lies in Southeast Asia

[Bio-medical] Large-scale Study Suggests Genetic Origin of Asian Populations Lies in Southeast Asia (Chinese Version)

Academia Sinica Newsletter (2009/12/14) Southeast Asia is the major geographic source of East Asian and North Asian populations, a consortium of researchers, including four scientists from Academia Sinica, reported 10th-December. This genetic mapping of Asia may have important implications, especially in the further understanding of human migratory patterns in human history, and the study of genetics and diseases.

The study, published in the leading academic journal Science, traced the genetic origins of Asian populations in 73 Southeast Asian and East Asian populations. They concluded that genetic ancestry was highly correlated with ethnic and linguistic groups, there was a clear increase in genetic diversity from northern to southern latitudes, and there was a single major inflow of human migration from Southeast Asia into other parts of Asia. These findings challenge the current predominant theory that presumes there had been multiple inflows of human migration along both southern and northern routes.

The group conducting the study was made up of over 90 scientists from the Human Genome Organisation’s (HUGO’s) Pan-Asian Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (PASNP) Consortium. It included scientists from over 30 top academic institutions in ten countries including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. The four Taiwan scientists participating in the study were from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) and were led by Academician and Director of IBMS Yuan-Tsong CHEN.

The Taiwan arm of the study was supported by the National Genotyping Center and the National Clinical Core for Genomic Medicine, two core facilities of the National Research Program for Genomic Medicine and the Multi-center Genetic Medicine Study, a project run by Academia Sinca.


Related Website:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/326/5959/1470


Media contacts:
Dr. Chien-Hsiun CHEN, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica
chchen@ibms.sinica.edu.tw (Tel)886-2-2789-9079
Fang-Hsun YEH, Public Relations Office, Central Office of Administration, Academia Sinica (Tel) +886-2-2789-8824, (Fax) +886-2-2782-1551, (M) 0922-036-691
hongsum@gate.sinica.edu.tw
Mei-Hui LIN, Public Relations Office, Central Office of Administration, Academia Sinica (Tel) +886-2-2789-8821, (Fax) +886-2-2782-1551, (M) 0921-845-234
mhlin313@gate.sinica.edu.tw


Further Information:
Academia Sinica Newsletter 2009/12/14



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