Article,
Update to Chikhi et al.'s "Clinal Variation in the Nuclear DNA of Europeans" (1998): Genetic Data and Storytelling -- From Archaeogenetics to Astrologenetics?
Human Biology, 81 (5-6): 639--643 (December 2009)
DOI: 10.3378/027.081.0612
Abstract
When “Clinal Variation in the Nuclear DNA of Europeans” was published in 1998, its message was relatively simple and pretty clear from its title. First, we were using genetic data from present-day European populations to describe how this diversity was distributed, by way of spatial autocorrelation analysis. Second, we observed clear clinal patterns in most genetic markers; that is, we found that autocorrelation was positive and significant at short distances and negative and significant at larger distances. Third, the difference from previous studies was that the markers we used were directly based on DNA information. Sure enough there had been studies describing the spatial patterns of genetic diversity in Europe, but they were based on so-called classical markers (allozymes and blood groups). At the time the only studies using “proper DNA” were those based on mitochondrial DNA.
...
Far from the timely and appealing “archaeogenetics” nicely and independently coined by Colin Renfrew and António Amorim, the 1990s saw the development of what I would rather call astrologenetics, with its “mythochondrial” DNA stories. Ten years later, this is still a flourishing industry. Who would say that there is no such thing as progress?
