Native Americans
Native-American DNA Study
In what may be the most comprehensive study of the genetic origins of Native Americans ever conducted, an international team of researchers has confirmed that Native Americans are descended from ancestors who crossed from Asia to the Americas approximately 20,000 years ago. Conducted by researchers from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, the Italian University of Pavia, and others, the study, The Phylogeny of the Four Pan-American MtDNA Haplogroups: Implications for Evolutionary and Disease Studies, is the first to compile, correct, and organize all the more than two hundred Native American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences and lineages into a single tree with branches. Published by the Public Library of Science, the study found that those Native Americans whose ancestors crossed from Asia are the offspring of six ancestral mothers, and also confirmed the presence of genetic subgroups of five rarer, less known, and geographically limited genetic groups who arrived later.
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