Biologists have constructed a genetic map of Europe showing the degree of relatedness between its various populations.
All the populations are quite similar, but the differences aresufficient that it should be possible to devise a forensic test to tellwhich country in Europe an individual probably comes from, said ManfredKayser, a geneticist at the Erasmus University Medical Center in theNetherlands.
The map shows, at right, the location in Europewhere each of the sampled populations live and, at left, the geneticrelationship between these 23 populations. The map was constructed byDr. Kayser, Dr. Oscar Lao and others, and appears in an article inCurrent Biology published on line on August 7.
Europe has been colonized three times in the distant past, alwaysfrom the south. Some 45,000 years ago the first modern humans enteredEurope from the south. The glaciers returned around 20,000 years agoand the second colonization occurred about 17,000 years ago by peoplereturning from southern refuges. The third invasion was that of farmersbringing the new agricultural technology from the Near East around10,000 years ago.
The pattern of genetic differences amongpresent day Europeans probably reflects the impact of these threeancient migrations, Dr. Kayser said.