It turns out Genghis Khan made a whole lot of us
Genghis
Khan is said to have millions of descendants. New DNA evidence says
significant chunks of humanity may carry genes from a few powerful men.
Science
Powerful men may have fathered big chunks of world: DNA study
CNBC.com
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Millions of men are believed to carry a string of DNA
bequeathed to them by Genghis Khan, the Mongolian conquerer who
reputedly fathered hundreds of children. But recent research suggests he
was only one of several men whose genes can now be found in significant
portions of the human population, according to an article in Nature
Magazine.
Nick Ledger | Getty Images
Statue of Genghis Khan
The evidence for Genghis's influence on today's global gene
pool is not iron-clad, but it is compelling—one team of scientists in
2003 found eight percent of men in 16 different Asian populations (0.5
percent of the global male population) shared nearly identical
Y-chromosome sequences. Further DNA evidence traced their lineage to
Mongolia about 1,000 years ago, which corresponds pretty closely with
Genghis's reign.
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The Y-chromosome is a good genetic marker because it is only found in men—while a man can father several sons by chance, there is a much lower probability that those sons will go on to father large numbers of sons themselves. The probability of having many sons increases if a man and his male descendants live in a social system that allows them to sire children with a large number of women—in a harem, for example. Such systems existed in many societies around the world.
Now geneticists say they have found Y-chromosome sequences that indicate at least 10 other major genetic lineages across Asia besides Genghis Khan's. Most of these can be traced back to periods in history when strong hierarchical structures began developing in societies in that part of the world. Those societies allowed powerful men to have many wives and concubines, increasing the chances that these genetic markers would be passed on to a growing share of the population.
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The study supports previous evidence suggesting that the Great Scourge of the Steppes was not the only prolific patriarch in history. Earlier studies identified a common ancestor in the Uí Néill dynasty of Ireland, and a Chinese nobleman known as Giocangga, whose lineage was spread through his descendants—monarchs and nobles in China's Qing Dynasty.
Call it the brotherhood of man.
Read the full article in Nature Magazine.
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The Y-chromosome is a good genetic marker because it is only found in men—while a man can father several sons by chance, there is a much lower probability that those sons will go on to father large numbers of sons themselves. The probability of having many sons increases if a man and his male descendants live in a social system that allows them to sire children with a large number of women—in a harem, for example. Such systems existed in many societies around the world.
Now geneticists say they have found Y-chromosome sequences that indicate at least 10 other major genetic lineages across Asia besides Genghis Khan's. Most of these can be traced back to periods in history when strong hierarchical structures began developing in societies in that part of the world. Those societies allowed powerful men to have many wives and concubines, increasing the chances that these genetic markers would be passed on to a growing share of the population.
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The study supports previous evidence suggesting that the Great Scourge of the Steppes was not the only prolific patriarch in history. Earlier studies identified a common ancestor in the Uí Néill dynasty of Ireland, and a Chinese nobleman known as Giocangga, whose lineage was spread through his descendants—monarchs and nobles in China's Qing Dynasty.
Call it the brotherhood of man.
Read the full article in Nature Magazine.
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