Around the World in 60,000 Years

We are all from Africa – well, that’s what our DNA tells us, anyway.

According to the internationally-known Genographic Project, led by Dr. Spencer Wells of National Geographic, humans first left Africa 60,000 years ago to migrate and populate unknown areas of the world.

The Project is an ambitious five-year research initiative organized through National Geographic and their partner, IBM. Using the most current genetic and computer technology, researchers are working to better understand human genetic roots, by gathering over 100,000 DNA samples from all over the world.

Rowan University’s Thomas N. Bantivoglio Honors Concentration joined the project in January, sending in the DNA samples of 60 students and 10 faculty members.

Freshman biology major Jocelyn Steinfeld served as one of the student coordinators of the project at Rowan.

“I became a coordinator for the project here at Rowan because I have always been interested in (the) Genographic Project run by National Geographic,” said Steinfeld. “I wanted to get involved as much as I can, because DNA is so interesting and exciting to me.”

Along with Steinfeld, sophomore Patty Bodak, a biology and education major, became a student coordinator after expressing interest in the topic.

“I guess I have always been curious, but I’ve always been interested in genetics and I think it’s cool that they can kind of trace it back like that,” Bodak said.

The girls are currently organizing a series of lectures that will further enlighten the honors’ community about the migration patterns of their DNA.

Cristina Iftode, a biological science professor and a participant in the project, spent over an hour during the first of these lectures describing how DNA can tell the story of our ancestry.

“We know that all modern humans have a female ancestor that’s been located 140,000 years ago, and we also know that all males have a common ancestor that’s been dated 60,000 years ago,” she said.

Iftode broke down key terms that are used in the project to describe how ancestry and migration patterns of those ancestors are determined using genetics:

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, are two thread-like strands linked together that form that commonly known image as the “double helix.” It has four chemical bases that make up the “stairs” of DNA, the set of instructions that create an organism.

Chromosomes carry the hereditary and genetic information in long strands of DNA called genes. Humans have 22 numbered pairs, and one set of sex chromosomes, one inherited from the father and one from the mother.

“DNA can be passed down from one generation to another; part of it remains unchanged, and part of it is greatly modified,” Iftode said. “Through this, there is an unbreakable link that is created between generations that can then be used to actually help us reveal the history – our personal history, our family history – but also the history of human kind.”

While DNA is present in every cell of the body, scientists cannot use all DNA to determine a specific sequence’s origin. “Switching” of DNA pieces occurs during the splitting of cells at birth, creating unique genes for every person.

For males, genes on the Y chromosome do not switch places because it does not have a matching partner. Therefore, lineage can be traced back through the mother’s or the father’s side. Female’s chromosomes, on the other hand, are both X, and often “shuffle” pieces around, mutating the genes.

In order to be able to track any kind of ancestry in females, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is found in the cytoplasm of cells and contains DNA from only the embryo, is used. This way, maternal history can be tracked in females, as well as males.

“Genetic markers are really mutations, those mutations that were placed at random on your DNA,” said Iftode. “We really look into the mutations that are inherited.

“There are two kinds that help us, two kinds of ancestry – we have one base mutation, one single letter that changes, or we have repetition of the letters.”

Repeats in DNA are actually from recent ancestors, and can determine more recent history, about four to twelve generations. The one base changes are what the genographic project uses. Base changes only occur once every few hundred generations.

Mutations in DNA help to group people into a unique combination of genetic markers called haplotypes. From these types are drawn haplogroups – individuals with the same haplotype – which in turn reveals how the DNA migrated over land.

While the project is open to the public, being part of it at Rowan was a chance that not all of the students in the honor’s concentration were able to experience. Limited to just under 70 students, those that did participate will be able to learn more about their migration pattern as the semester progresses.

Tom Cosentino is a sophomore chemical engineer who participated in the Genographic Project. He already knew a great deal about his father’s family ancestry, the side that he chose to learn about through the project.

“My dad’s side all came from Italy. They’d been peasants, and they didn’t really go anywhere,” he said.

When he received his results, Cosentino was pleasantly surprised.

“I thought (my family) had come up straight through Europe, but they actually came up through Uzbekistan, and one little spurt that goes into Siberia that I thought was neat,” he said.

Steinfeld too received results that were different than she expected. Since she only knew her ancestry a few generations back, the Project would be able to clear up her “mystery.”

“The project told me that, while most of my roots were in Eastern and Western Europe, my maternal DNA had also traveled into Asia, and far into India,” she said. “I was very surprised to find out about my more ethnic roots, and I thought it was really cool and interesting.”

Bodak mentioned that her genealogy’s path through Asia was the most interesting portion of her results.

“Everyone’s DNA originated from Africa, and mine went from there and split up at Saudi Arabia into Asia, and the other went up through Western Europe,” co-coordinator Bodak said. “I wasn’t realized surprised about Western Europe, but seeing that it split through Asia, that was kind of interesting.”

According to Iftode, there are several different project benefits, such as highlighting our common ancestry, a “snapshot” of human genetic variations, and the creation of a database that can be used for medical research.

But Steinfeld sees the advantages of the Genographic project another way.

“I think that everyone involved with the project benefits from knowing their roots,” said Steinfeld. “Also, this project ultimately reminds everyone that, as different as we may appear to be, it comes down to extremely tiny differences in DNA and that’s all that keeps us apart.

“In truth, we are really all just one big family, descended from one mother, now covering the earth. I think it is important for people to realize that we aren’t so different after all.”